


Datastorm Drabbles

by Justdumbfics



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! VRAINS
Genre: Drabble Collection, Light-Hearted, Some swearing!
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-10
Updated: 2021-02-14
Packaged: 2021-03-16 20:07:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 69
Words: 30,446
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29338011
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Justdumbfics/pseuds/Justdumbfics
Summary: This is a series of datastorm drabbles, memey and light-hearted! Each chapter works as a standalone fic, this is mostly to keep them together :) That said, some of them are set in the same AU and can be enjoyed as a series! Most notably, the fake bf au has a few dedicated chapters ;) Used some prompts from here https://randalourita.tumblr.com/post/132738279923/101-drabble-prompts and here https://perfectlyrose.tumblr.com/post/101118660910/au-prompts-masterlist-of-listsEnjoy!
Relationships: Fujiki Yuusaku & Revolver | Kougami Ryouken, Fujiki Yuusaku/Revolver | Kougami Ryouken
Comments: 2
Kudos: 11





	1. Unsaved Number

_Conversation with Unsaved number_

09:04

Fujiki Yuusaku.

19:04

You have left me on read for exactly 10 hours now. 

20:04

nice observation. its now 11 hours. 

20:05

You are insufferable 

20:07

and yet you're still texting me. who is this anyway?

20:08

Kogami Ryoken, obviously. 

20:10

how is that obvious 

20:12 

I assume you have Kusanagi's number saved, and do you actually know any other people? 

21:12

If it makes you feel any better, I also seem to have spent the majority of my formative years chasing virtual demons.

21:15

it doesn't

21:16

how are you getting signal on that stupid boat anyway

21:17

and how did you get my number??

* * *

It had been a week since the leader of the Knights of Hanoi surprised Playmaker with a text. Revolver had been AWOL since the Tower of Hanoi incident, so the message wasn't exactly unwelcome. Despite everything, Kogami Ryoken would always be the young boy who saved his life. 

It was good to know he was okay.

* * *

_Conversation with Revolver_

10:00

Which school do you go to 

13:05

are you going to stalk mr

13:05 

*me

13:07

If I wanted to do that, I could've easily used the Knights' state-of-the-art software to find you amongst the databases of every school in the prefecture. I decided to ask you, though.

13:09

so I just checked and my school's system is down from a cyber attack 

13:10

let me guess. you found out, thought it was creepy, then thought you could cover your ass by asking? 

13:11

I'm guessing it hasn't worked.

* * *

It was good to know Revolver was okay. If he was dead in some ditch, Playmaker wouldn't be able to kick his ass himself. 


	2. School's in

_ Conversation with Revolver  _

14:00

Come to your school gates. 

14:30

revo are you telling me you’re outside my school

14:31

No. 

14:32

I’m inside your school. 

14:33

Is that a problem? 

14:35

other than the fact it’s illegal?

14:36

But it’s a public school. Surely that means it’s public access. 

14:40 

you’ve never been to a public school, have you?

14:41 

Of course not, I was privately educated. This place didn’t even have a biometric lock. I assumed that meant I was allowed in. 

14:45 

get out before you’re arrested

14:46

actually, stay 

14:46

there’s something rly satisfying abt the leader of NoH getting arrested for something this dumb 

  
  


14:47 

Knight starts with a K. It should be KoH. These public schools really aren’t very good, are they. 

14:48

private ed didnt even teach you that breaking and entering is legal.

14:50

*illegal, shit

Looking up from his phone, Yuusaku glared at the clock. He needed this lesson to end so he could get out of here and find Ryoken before anyone asked any difficult questions. 

As his gaze left the screen, it fell upon the door. Or rather, the guy visible standing on the other side of the door. 

Ryoken gave a little wave, his face completely stoic. 

Jesus.

“Fujiki-san!” 

Yuusaku’s eyes snapped to the teacher, who had a particularly complicated English sentence scrawled on the whiteboard.

“You seem distracted. Perhaps this can bring you back to us? Translate.” He tapped the back of the pen against the whiteboard, and then held it out in Yuusaku’s direction. 

Oh. Shit. 

Yuusaku slowly shuffled towards the whiteboard, trying his best to avoid eye contact with the idiot standing conspicuously outside the classroom. If his teacher saw, the infamous net-terrorist really would get arrested for this. Of all things. 

As he arrived at the whiteboard, without the faintest idea how to translate this to Japanese, he felt his phone vibrate. Glancing down at the notification on the screen, he nearly choked on the air.

14:51

My heart yearns for a place in yours.

Yuusaku stared, eyes darting to the door before he could stop them. From where he stood, Revo was just visible. He looked as bored and stoic as ever; that was not the face of someone who just sent an embarrassingly forward text. 

Revo looked at him expectantly, then nodded to the whiteboard. When Yuusaku continued to stare, the other man rolled his eyes and sent another message.

14:52

That’s the translation. My heart years for a place in yours. Private education, I’m fluent in English. 

Yuusaku’s attention snapped back to the whiteboard. 

The urge to punch his childhood saviour grew stronger with every passing day. 

  
  



	3. Compulsory Boat Chapter

Yuusaku opened what might’ve been the hundredth door on the yacht - he’d lost count after the jacuzzi room - to see a fully functional kitchen. 

“Seriously?” He called back towards the deck. “Do you even cook?”

“Even Uber Eats don’t deliver to the middle of the sea.” Ryokan called back. 

Yuusaku wandered further inside, opening cupboards and drawers. 

“Snooping?” Ryoken asked, appearing in the doorway. He strolled over and fell into one of the barstools, beside the fancy kitchen island. Seriously, why was it marble?

Yuusaku pulled out a bag, shaking it at Revolver, “You own half a kilo of saffron?”

“Saffron is very nice.”

“I’m sure it is. This alone probably cost you more than I have ever spent on any of my meals.”

“How is that even possible.” Ryokan tutted, “What do you eat?” 

Yuusaku shrugged, “I make rice a lot. Grill fish, or fry some frozen gyoza or something.”

“You know how to grill fish?” 

“It’s really not that hard.” 

“...yeah… yeah, you’re right…” Ryoken looked away, glancing out the window.

Yuusaku furrowed his eyebrows, watching the side of the other man’s head. This was someone who, as a teenager, managed to revive his brain-dead father by placing his consciousness into a virtual reality system. And yet...

“You can’t grill fish?"

“I’ve never had to, okay?”

“You  _ live on a boat. _ ”

“Yes, with two adults and  _ Spectre _ .”

“You make Spectre cook all your meals, don’t you?” 

“No.” Revolver’s gaze slid slowly back to Yuusaku, meeting his unimpressed stare. “Okay, maybe--” Yuusaku snickered “--but only because I’m  _ busy _ and this kitchen is so temperamental! I could do it if I tried.” 

“Alright, prove it.” Yuusaku moved over to the fridge. To his delight, there was a fresh catch waiting for him. He pulled it out and threw it at Ryoken. 

Ryoken, to his credit, managed to catch it before it hit his face. He scrunched up his nose at the smell, glaring at Yuusaku. “Seriously?”

Yuusaku folded his arms and leaned back against the counter. 

“You can do it if you try.” He parroted. 

* * *

It was a charred mess. 

There was a long moment of silence as they both stared at Ryoken’s disastrous attempt - even with Yuusaku’s guidance, this had been the outcome. Turns out this kitchen really did have a mind of its own. Yuusaku opened his mouth, then closed it again. After another long moment, he found the words he needed. 

“...should we try adding some saffron?” 


	4. Revolver v Windy

Revolver burst through the roof in a blaze of fire and drama, landing just in time to stop Playmaker's demise at the hands of the light ignis.

"Help is here!" Ai cried with delight, only for his face to fall on catching sight of his would-be savior. "...oh." 

Revolver nearly laughed; few things brought him joy like the pain of that damned ignis. Quickly assessing the situation, his eyes landed on Playmaker. "All caged up, are we?" Unsurprisingly, Ai seemed to completely miss the humour dancing in his shaded eyes, visibly bristling.

Playmaker chose to ignore the remark altogether, "You've been gone for months, was this really the best outfit you could come up with? In all that time, seriously? Could've at least ditched the stupid safety visor."

"Eye protection is important."

"This is  _ VR _ , your eyes aren't _ real _ ."

Just as Revolver opened his mouth to retort, the light ignis cleared its throat, "Revolver! How did you get here?!" 

Revolver turned on him, smile sharp and feral. "You're really not as smart as you think. Time to duel, ignis." 

Playmaker knocked on the walls of his cage. "Can you get me out of this damn thing first?"

"Not the first time you've said that to me…" Revolver muttered under his breath, initiating his dueldisk.

"What?" Ai called, craning his ears.

"What?" Revolver raised an eyebrow, glancing over.

"Oh just get your game on." Playmaker huffed. "High five the sky, or whatever the fuck." 

"But even if he wins he won't help us!" Ai cried, "What are we going to do?!"

How had Ai missed their near-daily texts and calls? Since the fall of the Tower of Hanoi, Playmaker andRevolver had become... closer. Clearly, Yuusaku was trying to keep their relationship under wraps. He caught Revolver's gaze with an expression that said 'you can handle this'. 

"Speak for yourself, Ignis. I have nothing against Playmaker. But yes, you'll be my next target." 

Ai squealed some garbled English phrase. Or was that meant to be French? Whatever. Annoying little shit.

Under the guise of setting something up on his duel disk, Revolver sent a quick message to Spectre - it wouldn't do to have his boyfriend murdered but saving him would certainly be suspicious. He needed a pawn. Then, he faced the wind ignis.

"Duel." 

* * *

Soulburner arrived with that weird wonky-haired tree lover to find Playmaker had been… kidnapped? He was trapped in a cage? Revolver was duelling one of the ignis and… what was actually going on here?

Playmaker was sat on the floor, legs crossed and looking bored out of his mind. 

The dark ignis looked terrified, sobbing uncontrollably. Probably the more normal reaction to being caged up by a maniac.

Revolver was… losing? He had fewer lifepoints, but hell if that meant anything.

The wind ignis was saying something obnoxious. 

Who was he actually meant to be cheering for here, anyway?

Soulburner decided he didn't care about most of this. He went straight for Playmaker's cage.

"Playmaker! A present for you!" 

Ai looked up, positively thrilled.

"Soulburner! Oh my--  _ Soulburner!  _ I've never been so happy to see anyone in my life!" 

"You don't  _ have  _ a life, you dumb A.I." Revolver grumbled over his shoulder.

Playmaker snorted. "You're one to talk. Not sure spending every day on a boat with your parental guardians and that weirdo," he motioned to Spectre, "constitutes having a life. Shitty WiFi, too." 

"Our WiFi is definitely faster than in your--" 

"We are meant to be  _ duelling _ !" The wind ignis stamped its foot. 

Kusanagi's code did its job, releasing Playmaker from the cage. Playmaker stayed seated, nodding in thanks to Soulburner before turning his attention back to the duel.

"You know you can finish this in, like, two more moves, right?" 

"Are you looking at my fucking cards?" Revolver sputtered indignantly. 

Playmaker snickered.

What the fuck kind of parallel universe had Soulburner stepped into?


	5. Cinderella but make it VR

Playmaker knew this was a dumb idea, but he wasn’t really in a position to turn down the cash. 

Whoever organised this stupid ball had offered him ¥100,000 and a cyberse card - _that’s one-hundred-thousand yen and a cyberse card_ \- to make a cameo appearance. Apparently having him show up would be great press for future events, or something.

Playmaker didn’t really care about the reasoning; nevermind the cyberse card, he wasn’t about to turn down ¥100,000 when he was barely making rent. Being a vigilante VR hero didn’t pay all that well. Besides, Blue Angel and Go Inazuka were meant to be coming too, so it wouldn’t just be on him to entertain. 

“And now!” The guy - who was definitely too rich for his own good - announced. “Please welcome, our guest of honour!”

Behind the curtain, at the top of the large fancy staircase, Playmaker rolled his eyes. _Guest of honour_ was a far cry from the ‘cameo’ he agreed to. Oh well. Staying a little longer wouldn’t kill him. 

“Playmaker!” 

The curtains flew open with a flourish. Playmaker almost sighed as the crowds gasped and cheered.

Then, out of nowhere: “He’s a fake! He must be! Playmaker wouldn’t show up to something like this!” 

Was that… Shima’s avatar? Shima had made himself a suit in character creation-- no, actually, that was the premium payment-only Armani suit. Wow. He was probably hoping for a dance with Blue Angel... 

“I’m not a fake.” Playmaker sighed, folding his arms. “Your host made me an offer I couldn’t refuse, that’s all.” 

“Prove it!” Another voice shouted. 

“Yeah!” 

Playmaker initiated his dueldisk. Now _this_ was far more his game. “Okay. Who wants to duel?” 

And suddenly, the crowd was quieter. They looked to each other nervously, until one man stepped forth. He was wearing a white tailcoat which definitely took hours in character creation. Lilac hair, swept back with a pair of shades, framed golden eyes. 

“I’ll take you on.” The man said.

* * *

The duel was fierce. Playmaker had no intention of making a show for the crowd, he had wanted to round things off quickly, but this dragon user was very good. Too good. How-had-Playmaker-never-heard-of-him good. 

They were down to under 100 lifepoints each, and Playmaker had just declared a direct attack, when the man’s demeanor changed suddenly. Tapping away on his wrist, he tutted. 

“I have to go.” 

“What?” Playmaker gaped. 

“Another time, Playmaker.” 

He had two face-downs, but took the attack. 

Game over. 

And just like that, he was gone. 

The crowd erupted into cheers, clearly not having realised the duel had been far from over. Playmaker ignored them all. Something was on the floor, left behind by the mystery duelist. Approaching what looked to be a card, Playmaker swiped it before anyone else could see. 

He nearly choked.

* * *

In a mansion overlooking stardust road, Kogami Ryoken had just stabilised his bed-bound father. Just as he was settling down on the sofa with his cards, he noticed something that had him swearing under his breath. 

Borrelsword Savage was missing.


	6. Like A Fairytale

This was utterly ridiculous. Revolver could not believe his bad luck. Actually, he could. He had a track record of pretty bad luck, after all. 

Once upon a time, there was a special event in the Vrains: ‘Fairytale Fantasy’.

It was designed as a full community event; the further through the fairytales the community made it, the more bonuses and special event items were unlocked. There were also special prizes for being the first to make it to certain checkpoints, of course. The checkpoint for being the first to clear checkpoint 6? A copy of Borrelsword Savage Dragon. 

Revolver could not let someone else have that card. 

So, of course, he arrived on the scene with a flourish, intending to complete this round and then disappear again. 

However, the best laid plans of mice and men often go awry. 

“...Revolver?” Playmaker asked, arriving on the scene at last. 

“You took your time. Get me out of here.” 

Playmaker stared for a long moment before he finally spoke. 

“Sure. Revolver, Revolver, let down your hair.” 

“Use your _fucking d-board_.” 

Playmaker snickered. “How did you-- why are you--” 

Revolver was trapped in a large stone tower, with no way out. He tried logging out and back in, he tried scanning the room for any keys or items to get him out - he tried _everything_ but the only way for an avatar to make it out of here was to be unlocked by another avatar from the outside. They could unlock the door, or pull him through the window. He could, of course, hack the code - but that would take too long! Someone else would get the card before he managed it. 

“I came for the card, obviously! But the first person to arrive at this particular scene gets _locked in the tower_.” 

“Yeah, obviously.” Playmaker shrugged. “Did you really think that card wasn’t just bait? Bait SOL set up specifically for you?” 

“Playmaker just _get me out of here_ or _lord so help me--_ ”

“What?” Playmaker folded his arms, raising an eyebrow. “What will you do?” 

Revolver pursed his lips. 

“Yeah. Thought so.” He nearly laughed. 

“I’ll dump you.” 

“No you won’t.”

Revolver huffed. “Don’t you have to get me out for the event?”

“Nope. This was a trap for you, and you fell for it. All I have to do is” - Playmaker moved over to the thorn bush, at the base of the tower - “find the key in here.” 

After a moment of rummaging, he pulled it out. 

“This unlocks the bottom half of the tower and I duel the sorceress. Unlocking your room isn’t necessary to progress.” 

Playmaker headed towards the door at the bottom of the tower.

“But you can tag duel her! Let me out and we’ll get it done twice as fast, you know we will!” Revolver yelled, banging on the bars of his window. 

Playmaker ignored him, disappearing behind the tower. 

“I’m getting that card!” He called over his shoulder. 

Revolver groaned. He should’ve known this would happen. 

“I guess I don’t really mind if _you_ get it…” He mumbled, beginning the long process of hacking himself out of here. 

What he did mind, however, was the fact Yuusaku would probably be calling him ‘princess’ for weeks. It would be even worse if he actually _did_ need to be rescued.

With a groan, he doubled down on his hacking efforts. He probably didn't have long before Playmaker trashed the NPC. 


	7. Emergency

It was 2am.

Kusanagi still wasn't out of surgery. 

He had been hit by a car on his way to work. The doctors and nurses had all assured Yuusaku that the operation was straightforward, with a very high percentage chance of success, but he still couldn't bring himself to go home. He had to see Kusanagi out and alive with his own eyes. Then he _might_ be able to sleep.

Looking up from the fiftieth game of Words With Friends he'd played with this 'Dragun' guy tonight, Yuusaku noticed that other guy was still here, too. 

Around the same time as he and Kusanagi had arrived, a young man with white hair and purple highlights had rushed in with what appeared to be his father. Or uncle. Someone of that generation. 

The young man had been in the waiting room with him ever since. For a few hours now, it had been just the two of them left. The last relatives standing. 

For the first time all night, the young man caught Yuusaku’s gaze. 

"What were you playing?" His voice was quiet but in the dead silence that surrounded them, it may as well have been a scream.

"Words with friends." Yuusaku winced at the similar volume of his own voice. He glanced toward the door, worried about disturbing someone. Who, he wasn't really sure. 

The young man nodded to his bag. The flap had fallen open at some point, and his duel disk was just visible. 

"You're a duellist?" The young man asked. He rose from his seat, coming over to sit beside Yuusaku instead. 

Great. 

"Yeah." He answered, looking away pointedly. He was not in the mood for small talk.

"Any good?" The young man asked, not taking the hint from his one-word answer. 

Yuusaku shrugged. "Not really."

"Can I see your cards?" 

Yuusaku hadn't had time to switch in his dummy deck. 

"No." 

The young man nodded. "Okay."

Thankfully, that seemed to be the end of the conversation. The young man went back to his phone.

Yuusaku looked down to see Dragun had requested another match. He didn't know why this guy was awake, but whatever. He launched into another game.

The next time Yuusaku looked up, the other man had left the room. Yuusaku would've been grateful, except he'd left his bag behind so unfortunately he was probably coming back. When he returned, Yuusaku had just finished off his game; the score was now at 26-25, to Dragun. The young man cleared his throat, so Yuusaku looked up. He had two coffees, and he offered one to Yuusaku. 

"Vending machine. The nice places are all closed, but you seemed like you could use a pick-me-up."

Yuusaku blinked at the offering, then at the young man, before accepting the kindness quietly.

"...thanks." 

Somehow, the coffee did more harm than good. The next thing Yuusaku knew, he was being shaken awake by a nurse.

"He's going to be okay." He beamed, "Come through when you're ready, and you can see him."

The words barely registered as Yuusaku nodded his head slowly. He mumbled a 'thank you', sitting up and feeling a heavy coat slip from his shoulders. He blinked down at it, recognising it as the other young man's. As he folded it up, he noticed a note atop his bag.

'Nice cards, Playmaker. See you in the Vrains. Keep the jacket, your fashion sense is almost as atrocious as your conversation skills. You're clearly capable of making words, going by the number of games you won - try using them some time. 

-Revolver/Dragun'

Yuusaku groaned.


	8. Compulsory Soulmate AU

It was common knowledge, that, on your 16th birthday, two duel spirits would find their way to you. The spirits were connected to you and your soulmate, and were only visible to the two of you. Your spirits might just appear while you slept, or you might catch sight of them running across fields and towns to reach you. You might first see them come to life during a duel, or elsewhere in the Vrains. 

Revolver? He found them at a hot dog van.

That was two years ago. Now, he was duelling Playmaker. His rival. The biggest obstacle to his plans.

Playmaker, who had just summoned Linkuriboh. Revolver stared at that spirit with complete and utter confusion. 

Apparently, this was a Playmaker card. It was not a card in print. Revolver would know, as he had searched tirelessly for any information about it when he'd first seen the spirit on his sixteenth birthday. It was a card that Playmaker, and only Playmaker, had any kind of connection to. Why was  _ this _ one of _his_ duel spirits?

Playmaker was  _ not _ his soulmate.

Playmaker was… not his soulmate? 

"Revolver?" Playmaker was saying. "Revolver. It's your turn." 

Playmaker  _ was _ that boy, from all those years ago… would it really be so crazy for fate to have bound them together?

"Revolver…?"

"Playmaker. Is that…" Revolver swallowed, "is that one of your spirits?" He didn't know what answer he wanted. 

"Yes." 

Revolver stared at him. "Oh. This… this probably isn't the time, but…" He couldn't keep duelling without getting this off his chest. "I, uh…"

"It's one of yours too, and the other is Borrelsword Dragon? I know." 

Revolver gaped. "What do you mean you  _ know? _ "

"The giant dragon sitting on your house is  _ really  _ hard to miss. And Linkuriboh goes off to visit you, too."

"You know my identity in real life?!" 

Playmaker shrugged, "You know mine too, right? I had to figure out who lived in that house, when I hit sixteen and saw the giant dragon. Digging into who you were a little bit, I figured out you must be Revolver pretty quick." 

"You never said anything!" Revolver sputtered.

"Neither did you…?" Playmaker seemed genuinely confused. 

"Not about our identities! I didn't know you were my  _ soulmate _ !" 

"Does it matter?"

Revolver felt like pulling his virtual hair out. 

" _ What? _ "

'I mean- we have to duel and resolve our differences either way, right?"

"I don’t-- maybe? You've had longer to think about this than me, okay?" 

"I didn't need longer than a few seconds."

"...you are  _ not _ my soulmate."

* * *

As the spat continued, a pigeon and a frog cried with delight. 

"This is such a scoop!"

"We'll finally get our bonuses!" 

* * *


	9. Fencing Makes The Heart Grow Fonder?

It had been a month since the Hanoi incident. Revolver had temporarily left the Vrains to train full time for his upcoming fencing tournament. 

Having spent so long away from the sport, he really had a lot of making up to do. So much, in fact, that his coach was recommending he drop down into the _intermediate_ category. He hadn't been classed as _intermediate_ in years! 

Nevertheless, he wasn't one to argue with his coach. The woman had no reason to lie. So, instead, he decided to just scope out the competition. If he could show his coach how easily he could defeat other 'intermediate' fencers, perhaps she would reconsider her recommendation. 

He arrived at Denki City Fencing Club five minutes late, having gotten lost twice on the way. He was used to private instruction, and had never needed to find this place before. When he made it inside, the club's regulars were already warming up. Spotting his coach, he jogged over to her. 

"Got lost, rich boy?" She looked amused, folding her arms over her chest. 

"I'm sorry, coach." Ryoken mumbled. 

"Go get changed. The club's coach has got a few guys lined up who are happy to spar. He wants you to join in with their drills first though." 

"That's fine. Thanks."

Changing quickly, Ryoken was back out and warming up within a few minutes. A boy about his height came over to him as they took a break between drills. Ryoken took a sip of water.

"Nice to see you, Revolver." 

Ryoken regretted his sip of water. He coughed and spluttered, struggling to breathe for a moment.

"Playmaker?!" He hissed, ducking his head to get a better look through the other boy's mask. 

Yep. Yuusaku.

Yuusaku looked around quickly, "Don't call me that here." 

"Then don't call _me_ by my Vrains name either."

"Fine, uh… Kogami-san?"

"Ryoken is fine." 

"Okay. Ryoken… senpai?"

Ryoken raised an eyebrow.

"You're older than me and you've been playing this sport for longer." 

'When did you start?" 

"When you left the Vrains." 

Revolver stared at him. Yuusaku shrugged. 

"Figured if I couldn't duel you there, I'd duel you here." 

"But then you're the Novice category. Do you even know what weapon I fence?"

"Your ranking and weapon are advertised publicly. Apparently I'm the fastest learner they've ever had. I'm an intermediate saber now." He could've sworn Yuusaku’s lips tilted up into a smirk, "I look forward to our duel later." 

And then he turned around, going back to his area of the mats for their remaining drills. 

Maybe staying in the intermediate category wouldn't be so bad after all. 


	10. Bookstores

Aaaand here he was. 

Right on time, like always. 

Yuusaku watched as the white haired boy - Kogami Ryoken, according to the credit card he always paid with - entered the shop, scarcely five minutes before his shift ended. He offered Yuusaku his usual polite nod, then went over to his usual set of shelves. The books in that area were about data science and coding. Yuusaku only knew that because after Ryoken's umpteenth visit, he couldn't help but investigate why the man kept coming back. 

Their coding selection _was_ pretty impressive. The book shop was a stone's throw away from the city university's computer science department. The undergraduates had a habit of buying and selling their course books here, as well as anything they needed for thesis or dissertation research. 

Today, Kogami Ryoken picked up one of the heftiest books on A.I. Yuusaku had ever seen. Instead of bringing it straight to the counter, he hesitated, eyeing up the sofa where guests sometimes perused their books before or after purchasing. 

"You're welcome to sit down. We serve coffee." Yuusaku blurted. Shit. Now he would know Yuusaku had been staring like some kind of weirdo. 

"Oh. Then, I'll take this" he raised the book for Yuusaku to see, "and a tall, low-fat latte with caramel drizzle."

Ryoken sat down with his book, ignoring the raised eyebrow Yuusaku gave that order. 

Moving over to the coffee counter, and starting on the drink, Yuusaku began to think that maybe he should've gotten the guy to pay and leave. Seriously, what level of obnoxious do you have to be to think 'caramel drizzle' is a reasonable order?

He brought the drink over, ever the dutiful employee, and was about to set up payment on the card machine when the young man's voice stopped him.

"Get yourself one too. Bring it over after your shift." 

"...are you asking me out?" Yuusaku asked, not unkindly. 

"Did you think I really needed all these books?" Ryoken answered, voice flat.

Oh.

Five minutes before the end of his shift. Every day for two weeks. 

"It took you this long to ask?"

"...I wasn't sure how to go about this without being creepy, given we've never spoken." 

"I think you crossed that line when you apparently watched me to find out when my shift ended." 

Ryoken sighed, looking into his coffee.

"...let me cash up. I'll be right over." 

His eyes flicked back in Yuusaku’s direction, smiling after him.


	11. Flowers

Yuusaku stopped at the flower shop for what might have actually been the fiftieth time that week.

Kusanagi’s brother had taken a turn for the worse, bedbound and barely speaking. He wanted to visit, if just to make sure Kusanagi was eating, and apparently flowers were the done thing. He had no idea what flowers Kusaagi’s brother liked though. Was that even important? Or did he just have to buy flowers that had the most positive _meaning?_

“Can I help you?” A young man with white hair and an apron had appeared behind the counter. He blinked at Yuusaku, patient and expectant. “You’ve come in and left a few times now. I apologise if you know what you’re doing, but, well. It seems like you… don’t.” 

Yuusaku cleared his throat, scratching the back of his head nervously. He picked up the closest bunch of flowers that looked suitably sad, and wandered over to the counter. 

The man looked at the flowers, then at Yuusaku. “I’m sorry for your loss, sir.”

“What?” Yuusaku furrowed his brows. 

“These are memorial flowers. For dead people.” 

Yuusaku groaned.

“I’ll ask again, sir, do you need some help?” The young man’s tone was flat, his face stoic and void of judgement. 

Yuusaku sighed. “Do you have any flowers that say… I’m sorry you suffered an unimaginable childhood trauma that has once again reared its ugly head and rendered you bedbound?” He ventured. 

The man nodded slowly. “We can… probably get something with the same… sentiment? It’ll be less specific than that though, probably.” 

“Yes, of course.” Yuusaku nodded. 

The young man came out from behind the counter, wandering around the shop and pointing out flowers. 

“Those could be good for the _get well soon_ part, but if you’d rather focus on expressing condolence for the current situation, these might be better. These could be good for insinuating the injury was related to childhood, and these could probably allude to an unimaginable trauma?” 

Yuusaku just nodded. This man was actually fulfilling his, admittedly ridiculous, request. 

The young man pulled them all together into a bouquet which actually looked… good? It looked good. That was… unexpected. 

“Is this okay?” The man asked. “I can tie them up for you.”

“I don’t know how you managed this.” Yuusaku blurted. “I mean… yeah. This is… good. Thank you.”

The man wrapped the flowers in simple paper and ribbon. 

“I hope your friend recovers soon.” He offered the bouquet across the counter as Yuusaku reached for his wallet. “Oh, no, no.” The man waved his hands, “These are on me.” 

Yuusaku blinked. “Oh. Thank you.” 

“Don’t mention it. Have a good day.” 

“Thanks. You too.” 

Yuusaku headed towards the door, turning back to wave one last time before leaving. 

As the door swung shut behind Fujiki Yuusaku, Kogami Ryoken huffed a sigh of relief. 

Watching the poor man come in here and leave every day for two weeks had been incredibly painful. Especially considering his own… connection, to the incident which caused the current trauma of one Kusanagi Jin. 

So, of course, the only feasible solution had been to learn the language of flowers and pose as an employee. 

Quickly pulling off the apron he’d found behind the counter, he stuffed it back where it belonged and dropped ¥30000 on the counter. Was that how much flowers costed? Probably. He was out of the door and down the road before the real shopkeeper made it back. Revolver may or may not have been responsible for the various incidents which had stalled her. 


	12. Honey, I'm Home

“Honey, I’m home.” Flat, deadpan. 

Revolver stared at the man on the other side of the door. 

Yuusaku looked unimpressed, growing more impatient with every passing second.

"Well, are you going to let me in?" He asked.

"Why are you at my house-- or, more importantly, why do you have a  _ suitcase _ ?"

Yuusaku shrugged. "This place is huge, and you live on your boat half the time. My landlord kicked me out. Apparently, pulling a disappearing act for a few months without telling him is against my contract. He'd have thrown my stuff out if you hadn't paid for the upkeep.” Yuusaku shuffled on his feet. “Thanks for that, by the way."

Ryoken sighed. He stepped aside, holding the door open. 

Yuusaku came in, suitcase rolling along behind him with a quiet rattle.

“I’m not setting up the spare room, do it yourself. Everything you need is in the cupboards.” 

“But I’m tired.” Yuusaku went straight over to the couch, the dirty wheels on his suitcase coming dangerously close to Ryoken’s fresh white carpet. Ryoken felt his eye twitch. 

“Fine.” He moved over to quickly swipe the suitcase from his new house guest, before it could do any serious damage. “I’ll sort your room out if you promise to tell me where you’ve been.” 

Yuusaku glared at him. 

“That’s the deal. Take it or leave it. I could always just call Kusanagi  _ right now _ \--” 

“Okay, fine, fine.” Yuusaku huffed. “I’ll… tell you. Don’t call him. Don’t call anyone, no one knows I’m back…” 

Ryoken nodded. “I won’t.” 

He lugged the suitcase over towards the spare room, but paused when Yuusaku’s voice drifted over to him.

“Ryo…?”

“Yeah?” He turned back around.

“Why the spare room?”

Ryoken glanced out the window, taking a moment to find his words. “Didn’t you dump me for a computer program?” Yeah, maybe he should’ve taken a little longer to find some  _ better  _ words. 

Yuusaku snort-laughed. It was sudden, and ugly, and loud. 

“No? No, I’m pretty sure I didn’t do that.” 

“But you--” Ryoken started. 

“I should’ve called. Or texted. Or something. I’m sorry about that. But I’m not the first one of us to pull something like this, am I? I thought you’d get it.”

He did get it. Kind of. He understood needing time, or space - A.I. though it was, that program had been a friend to Yuusaku. 

“You told me he said he loved you, then you left. And didn’t call. Or text. Why would I think we were still together?” 

Yuusaku shrugged, “Because you’ve always known Ai was a literal part of me. Of course he loved me. We went through a lot together. Doesn’t change anything between us, does it?”

“Would it have killed you to say that  _ before  _ you left?” Ryoken grumbled. 

Yuusaku looked sheepish. “Sorry.” He mumbled. 

Ryoken sighed. 

“There’s leftover pizza from that place you like, in the fridge. Eat something, you look like death.” 

“Thanks.” 

Yuusaku watched the other man roll his suitcase into the master bedroom, breathing a sigh of relief. 


	13. Lost

A car pulled up beside him and Yuusaku felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end. If this guy was planning on kidnapping him, he really wasn’t in the mood. 

“Oi. Playmaker.” 

Yuusaku’s head whipped to the side to see Kogami Ryoken in the driver’s seat. 

“...Revolver?” 

“Yes. Get in.” 

“Why would I do that.”

“Because you’re obviously lost.”

“I am not lost.”

“Yeah? Then where are we.”

“...somewhere near Takeru’s home town.”

“I think you rode a train for 3 hours in the wrong direction, Yuusaku.” 

Yuusaku stared at Revolver, then at the sad Google Maps screen on his phone, which was agreeing wholeheartedly with his arch nemesis. 

He sighed. Swinging open the passenger door, he dropped into the expensive leather seat and crossed his arms. 

“...thanks.” 

* * *

“Put the address in.” Ryoken pulled back out onto the road, zipping off at what was definitely an illegal speed. 

Yuusaku reached over to the built-in GPS and squinted at the screen. 

“This UX is trash.” 

“I designed it.”

“That explains it.” 

Ryoken shot him a dark look. 

* * *

“Why are you wearing that?” Yuusaku asked, an hour or so into the drive.

“What?”

“That’s a suit. Why are you wearing a suit?” 

“I had a meeting. I run a very successful duel-coaching business.” 

“Huh. Maybe you should attend some of the classes.” 

Revolver glared out of the corner of his eye, “Would you rather walk? I hear there’s a tropical storm passing this way soon.”

“Depends, is your sense of music as bad as your sense of style?” 

“Play whatever you want.” 

Yuusaku hummed, “Alright, then I think I'll stay.” 

* * *

Around half an hour later, Playmaker finally thought to ask - 

“You’re in that suit because you had a meeting.”

“Yes.”

“All the way out in Miyagi?” 

“Yes.”

“But you picked me up at lunchtime.”

“Yes.”

“So you drove all the way to Miyagi for one morning meeting?” 

“No, the meetings were meant to be all day.”

“You ditched them?”

“I spotted you when I was out for lunch and realised there was no feasible way for you to get anywhere without a car. You missed the last train.”

“Oh.” Playmaker paused for a moment. “Are you sure it won’t be a problem?”

Revolver shrugged. “I have some very capable people taking care of things in my place.” 

“Okay. Thanks.” 

* * *

Three hours into the drive, they were finally back where Yuusaku started. He didn’t realise he’d fallen asleep until he was waking up; the car was empty and Revolver was nowhere to be seen. He sat up slowly, rolling his head to try and work out the kink he'd developed in his neck. The seat had been lowered, and Revolver had thrown a coat over him in place of a blanket. His eyes fell on the signs outside; t was a petrol station. 

Ryoken emerged from the shop opposite the pumps, coming back towards his car with a carrier bag. When he pulled the door open, he nodded to Yuusaku. 

“And sleeping beauty awakens. Here I was beginning to think you might need a kiss.” 

“Did it take you this entire drive to come up with that? Cringe.” 

Ryouken threw the bag at his face. “Snacks. We can stop for dinner in a couple hours, if you want.” He pressed a few buttons on the dashboard and Yuusaku's seat started to right itself. 

“Are you asking me out?” 

“Are you saying yes?” 

Yuusaku shrugged, “As long as you don’t try any more terrible princess-themed lines.” 

“Like you could do any better.”

“Probably not, but that’s why I have the sense not to try.”

* * *

Conversation with Faust

20:05

Meetings have all been handled, sir. We know your ‘emergency’ was a dinner date, by the way, you paid with the company card. I hope it went well. 

* * *


	14. Matsuri

Yuusaku rushed over to him. 

"Kusanagi-san! There you are." Yuusaku looped an arm through his quickly, a simple pragmatic solution to the issue of having lost his friend. 

Ryoken stared down at Yuusaku's arm from behind his fox mask. A fox mask that Kusanagi was also wearing. 

"Come on, the fireworks are about to start." Yuusaku was saying, dragging Ryoken through the crowds.

He  _ could _ correct this misunderstanding. That would be the sensible thing to do. However, he'd thought he would be enjoying the festival alone. Playmaker was a welcome addition to his night, though he wasn't sure he'd ever find a way to voice that sentiment aloud. Yuusaku seemed content for them to enjoy eachother's company in silence, so there really was no need to correct him, was there? 

* * *

Yuusaku dragged Ryoken through the crowds, at a complete loss for how to play this situation.

Kusanagi had spotted Ryoken spending the night alone at the summer festival - "You should watch the fireworks with him." He'd suggested, a glint in his eye. 

It had been a fine suggestion. This had been an excellent excuse to engage Ryoken in conversation, learn about eachother, grow closer perhaps. 

So, what opening play had he gone for? 

Pretending he thought this was Kusanagi, of course! His mask completely covered his face, and Kusanagi was wearing a white wig as part of a performance he and Jin were giving tonight. This 'misunderstanding' was genius - it was simple, and an easy way to start a conversation. It would've worked, had Revolver not  _ pretended to be Kusanagi _ . It was like being hit with a counter trap or something. 

What the hell was he meant to do now?

* * *

Ryoken made a decision. The best way to play this was to  _ impress _ . He was going to be the most amazing company, and then reveal himself to the inevitably awe-struck face of one Fujiki Yuusaku. 

And here came his chance! There, two stalls away, Ryoken could see a giant Cyberse Wizard plushie. 

Perfect. 

* * *

Yuusaku felt Ryoken tug him towards the stalls, away from the viewing area for the fireworks.

“What is it? The fireworks are that way.” 

Unsurprisingly, Kusanagi didn’t say a word, given he would’ve sounded awfully like Ryoken if he did. 

Instead, he pointed at… a giant cyberse wizard plush. 

Revolver was going to try and win him a plushie? 

He did everything he could to bite back the laughter bubbling in his stomach. 

* * *

Arriving at the stall, Ryoken couldn’t believe his luck. It was a duelling strategy game. Three turns against an AI, winner picked a prize. 

“Oh, Kusanagi, do you want me to play?” Yuusaku asked, with a glint of something in his eyes. Humour? Challenge? “You’re terrible at duelling.” 

Oh. Shit. This would be a giveaway, then? 

The guy behind the counter rescued him, coming over to grin at them. “It’s alright! These challenges are more about luck of the draw - as long as you can read a card, you can give it a go!” 

“This game is never about luck of the draw.” Yuusaku mumbled, rolling his eyes. 

He was right, but before Playmaker could start an argument with the stallholder, Ryoken handed over the money for a ticket. The man beamed. 

“Fantastic! Step right up!” 

The duel was, of course, child’s play. You only had to have more life points after 3 turns, but Revolver FTK’d the pathetic AI. 

“Congratulations!” Their host cheered, stunned. “No one’s ever done it that fast before! Pick your prize!” 

Just as Ryoken was about to point at the Cyberse Wizard, Yuusaku spoke. 

“Borrelsword Dragon.” 

Ryoken’s head whipped in his direction. Yuusaku was grinning.

“Reminds me of you. Thanks, Ryoken.” 

Ryoken was very glad for the mask covering his wide eyes and slack jaw. 

He cleared his throat quietly. New plan. There is no problem. What problem? 

Pushing the mask up into his hair, Ryoken folded his arms into the wide sleeves of his yukata. A picture of grace. 

“Would you like to watch the fireworks?” 

Yuusaku snorted. 

“Sure.” 


	15. Vampire!

The glass bottle fell from Yuusaku’s hands, crashing to the floor and exploding in a shower of what must have been blood, and pointy shards. 

It made sense, really. 

He was impossibly smart, and rich, and never came out during the day. He spent most of his time in the Vrains, where the  _ sun wasn’t real.  _

Yuusaku had come to visit one Kogami Ryoken, whom he believed to be the infamous Revolver. Only, he found that in place of a bed or anything resembling  _ normal furniture _ , Ryoken was currently sleeping in a  _ coffin _ . 

The man was a vampire. 

Yuusaku turned back to look at his long-time friend and parter-in-vigilanteism, only to find a similar look of shocked horror on Kusanagi’s face. 

“What do we do?” He whispered urgently. 

“I don’t… I don’t know.” Yuusaku replied. The calm in his voice was at complete odds with the thunderous beat of his heart. “We could come back with garlic?”

“Would that even work?!” Kusanagi hissed. 

“How am I supposed to know? Do I strike you as someone who has extensive experience dealing with vampires?” Yuusaku mumbled. Trepidation quickly replaced by curiosity, he crouched beside the coffin, leaning in for a closer look. 

“Yuusaku!” Kusanagi grabbed at his shoulder. “What are you  _ doing- _ don’t get  _ closer _ !” 

“It’s fine. If he wanted to kill us, he’d have done it by now. We’ve been serving him hotdogs for weeks.” Yuusaku paused. “Huh. He probably hasn’t been eating them.” 

"This is blood, isn't it." Kusanagi stared at the mess the broken bottle had made on the floor. Some of the splatter had fallen onto their clothes. Yuusaku had picked the bottle up just as they'd entered the room. It seemed out of place, so he thought he'd take a closer look. Then, of course, his eyes had fallen upon the man in the coffin. 

"Probably. I think I just ruined his dinner." Yuusaku mumbled. 

"Why do you sound sorry about that." The intensity of the incredulity in Kusanagi's voice was rivaled only by the look of sheer frustration in his eyes. "Why aren't you panicking. He's a vampire! We've been pissing off a vampire!"

Yuusaku rolled his eyes. "Like I said, if he wanted to hurt us he'd have done it by now. Let's just wait for him to wake up, and-"

" _ No!"  _ Kusanagi yelped, backing away towards the door. "No, absolutely not, we are  _ not _ waiting for him to wake up that is a  _ terrible _ idea--" 

"We came here for answers, and we still need them--"

"I  _ also _ need my  _ blood _ to stay in my  _ body _ ." 

"What's the big deal, it's not like we can't make more."

Kusanagi stared at him. Yuusaku sighed.

"If you're so against him drinking our blood, why do you drink cow's milk."

"That's different!" 

"One, it replenishes itself. Two, we don't suffer too much from losing a pint or so. Three, it serves as sustenance. Where is the difference." 

"I am _not_ having this conversation." Kusanagi turned on his heel, stalking back towards the door. "We will talk about this from the safety of the hot dog van." 

Yuusaku sighed, following Kusanagi. 

"Fine, but if we lose this lead because you were scared Revolver would drink all your blood and murder you, I'm not gonna be happy." 

The door clicked shut behind them.

Kogami Ryoken opened his eyes, sitting up and staring at the door. 

He wasn't sure how he expected this to play out, but that certainly wasn't it.

He opened the Knights group chat.

Revolver to Hanoi Knights:

_ It worked, but it… didn't work.  _

Specter to Hanoi Knights:

_ What does that mean, sir? _

Revolver to Hanoi Knights:

_ They believe I'm a vampire. Playmaker is not scared of vampires.  _

Baira

_ Ffs lol of course he isn't _

Faust

_ Are you for real _

Specter 

_ Wtf _

Revolver 

_ Yeah. Also they broke the bottle and it got onto their clothes so they're definitely gonna realise its ribena.  _

  
  



	16. Libraries & Linux

Ryoken settled into his corner, opening the third-year coding coursebook. He didn’t actually need to use the library, or their books, of course. He had a personal copy of every text he might need, sometimes two for good measure. However, one fateful day nearly three weeks ago, Ryoken had left his copy of _Fortran 90 to C++_ at home. In need of quick access to one particular page, he thought he’d just use the library version. 

Inside, he’d found a note. Or rather, several notes. All in the same handwriting. 

This was a new course text, and a book that had only been ordered into the library this year. Whoever was writing these was currently taking the course.  That day, Ryoken wrote a note back. He annotated the other person’s notes, highlighting things they seemed to have misunderstood. 

When he returned the following day, the other person had responded. 

It had since become a daily ritual. Ryoken would come to the library, find the book, and settle into a quiet corner of the room. The stranger would have erased anything from over 3 days ago, and replaced those messages with new replies. 

Today’s message was particularly important. 

Yesterday, Ryoken had asked for a name.

Opening the book, Ryoken flicked straight to the page full of their notes. 

‘Someone else might be reading these.’ 

Ryoken flipped back and forth through the book, looking for any elaboration, but there was nothing. Just that one sentence. So, the stranger didn't want their details broadcast to anyone who happened to pick up the book? He tapped his pencil against the table, trying to think of a way around it. Then, an idea struck him.

‘ssh -Y  [ strager@hanoi.sol.jp ](mailto:strager@hanoi.sol.jp) password, date of my first message’ 

That should do it. This stranger was clearly also on a computer science course, they must understand how to remote log in on a linux system, right? The Hanoi computers were his own personal network, so he could easily set up an account for the stranger.

Two computer science students, communicating with notes in a book? It was laughable, really. This would be far better. 

He slid the book back into place, then returned to his corner to get to work on making the stranger’s account. He didn’t see the young man in the dark hoodie come and snag the book almost instantly.

* * *

Not ten minutes later, the account was made and the stage was set. He’d set up an easy terminal-based messaging interface for them. Ryoken settled into his seat, waiting. 

It was a short wait. 

Stranger: how do you own your own 300TB+ RAM computer wtf 

Revolver: money.

Stranger: yet you cant afford a textbook?

Revolver: I left my copy at home that day. 

Ryoken looked up, glancing down the rows to where he’d returned that book. It was gone. The guy was here, right now, he must’ve been. 

Stranger: and then you kept coming back?

Revolver: Interesting conversation. 

Stranger: you get your kicks telling freshmen they’re doing everything wrong?

Revolver: You are not a freshman if you’re using that book.

Stranger: i am. i just did a lot of reading before i got here. 

Revolver: Self-taught fortran 90? Impressive.

Stranger: yeh. needed it for some work i was doing. 

Revolver: I don't suppose you want to tell me what kind of work it was?

Stranger: maybe over coffee?

Revolver; Are you asking me out?" 

Stranger: are you going to pretend you havent been flirting this whole time

Stranger: have you left? 

“Hello, stranger.” 

Fujiki Yuusaku looked up from his laptop, to see his penpal stood in front of him. The CCTV footage from the library was visible on his laptop screen. 

“Hello, revolver." 

"Coffee, then?" 

"You're buying, rich kid." 


	17. Midnight Cruise

The loud ring of Revolver’s phone woke him from a peaceful sleep. With a quiet groan, he felt aimlessly around his bedside table until he found the damn thing. 

“Kogami Ryoken.” He yawned, answering the call. 

“Revolver.” That was… Yuusaku? “I need you to come pick me up.” 

“Yuu…? What? Where are you?” 

“I’m on an island off the coast of Hiroshima. Not far from Miyajima.”

“...why?” Ryoken had completely woken up now. “ _How_?” 

“Blue Angel mentioned a rabbit island. I thought this was it. It wasn’t. This is just an island.” 

“It’s 3am, why are you looking for Ōkunoshima?” 

“Wait, you know it?” 

“Of course I know it. I spend half my life on a boat, I know the islands around my country.” He let his head fall back onto the pillow, pinching the bridge of his nose. “Miyajima is nowhere near Ōkunoshima, by the way.” 

“Okay, well, can you come get me, and then take me to Ōkunoshima?”

“...Yuusaku, are you drunk?” 

“No? I don’t know. I don’t think so, but I had something new from a vending machine. I don’t know what it was.” 

Revolver sighed. “Send me your co-ordinates. I’m bringing you _home_.”

The coordinates pinged to existence on his screen and Revolver stared for a long moment. “Yuusaku, you’re on Himeshima. That’s nowhere near Miyajima _or_ Ōkunoshima, how did you even get there?” 

“...I borrowed your boat.” 

“You-- you _what_?” Ryoken jumped out of bed, dashing around the room to grab his clothes.

“I figured if you could work it, it couldn’t be _that_ hard. I was bored. And Blue Angel mentioned a rabbit island.” 

“So you and Blue Angel thought it would be a good idea to--”

“No, just me.” 

“...just you?”

“Yes.”

“You’re definitely drunk and it’s a miracle you’re not dead.” 

“See you soon, love you.” 

The line went dead. 

Playmaker certainly did make his life more interesting. 


	18. Bump in the Night

Yuusaku loved his midnight walks. There was nothing like the dead of night and clean, fresh air to improve your clarity of mind. He’d wrap up warm and talk a nice, long walk through one of the parks around Denki City. His route was always the same, as he’d calculated the most efficient way to get from the west to the east exit, whilst ensuring he passed all of the most scenic areas. This was his time. His route, through his park, in his night. 

So, it went without saying that he was not happy about the _guest_ he seemed to have acquired. 

The man didn’t seem to know Yuusaku had noticed his presence. He was lurking a little way behind, but the guy had the most ridiculous reflective stickers on his jacket - he was really hard to miss, even just in Yuusaku’s peripheral vision. 

The first night, it had been strange to have company the whole way along his route, but coincidence was not beyond the realm of possibility. This, however, was the fifth such night.

He needed to do something. Preferably before his new stalker kidnapped him.

At the next turn in his route, Yuusaku rounded the corner and waited. 

He heard the footsteps of his stalker coming ever closer, tapping softly against the dirt road. 

As soon as the man came into view, Yuusaku threw his fastest left hook right at the asshole’s face. 

“Gah!” The man yelped, falling back onto his ass and clutching a bloody nose.

“Ryoken?!” Yuusaku sputtered, staring at white hair and blue eyes scrunched up in pain. 

“Yuusaku?! What the _fuck?!_ ”

“You’ve been stalking me!” Yuusaku accused. 

“No I _have not_!” Revolver was still seated, clutching at his face. “Why the hell would you think that?!” 

“You’ve done the same route through this park as me for the last _five nights_ ! And don’t say it wasn’t you, no one else wears _reflective stickers_.” 

“I have done this route because the code I made predicted that it was the most efficient route between the west and east exits whilst passing--”

“--all of the most scenic areas?” Yuusaku finished, wincing. “Right. Okay. Yeah. That… makes sense. Great minds, I guess.” 

Ryoken glared at him. 

“Sorry?” 

A beat of silence passed as Ryoken slowly drew himself back up to his feet. 

“You’ve broken my nose, you absolute ass.”

Yuusaku nodded slowly. 

“...free hotdog tomorrow?”   
  



	19. For the 'gram

“Just _ask him out_.” Takeru moaned, watching his best friend scroll through another hundred or so Revolver pictures. 

“Easier said than done.” Yuusaku groused. He heaved a sigh and threw his arms out around him. He was laying on his floor, staring at the ceiling. The ceiling was nice. It was a plain, simple thing. 

"How is there even a problem here? It's not like you're some random super fan, you're a pro duelist! You've done promo shoots together! Just _message him_." 

"What would I even say."

"I dunno, how about 'let's get coffee'?" 

Yuusaku shot his friend a withering look. 

Takeru held his hands up. 

"It worked for me!"

"You and your girlfriend have been friends since you were children. I bet she didn't even realise it was a date until you kissed her." 

Takeru threw a pillow at him.

"If you don't ask Revolver out by the end of the week, I'm doing it for you." 

Yuusaku sat up, pushing the pillow away from his face. He glared at his friend.

"Give me evils all you want. I mean it." 

Takeru was himself also a pro duelist. A message from him wouldn't go ignored.

Yuusaku stared down at his phone screen. 

It would be so easy to-

Oh. 

"Yuu? What is it? You look pale!" 

Takeru rushed over to his friend's side, and his eyes fell on the phone screen.

Yuusaku had just liked one of Revolver's instagram photos. It was a promo. From 57 weeks ago. 

Takeru cackled. 

"This is not funny!" Yuusaku hissed, staring at his phone.

"Just unlike it! He probably hasn't even seen it, it's fine!" Takery managed, between bouts of unrelenting laughter. "Serves you right for scrolling through _57 weeks_ instead of just asking him out, though!" 

Yuusaku quickly unliked the photo, then proceeded to stare at his phone as if it was a harbinger of the apocalypse. 

"How will I know if he saw it- I won't know, will I?"

"Not unless he messages or something." Takeru had finally managed to calm his laughter, offering Yuusaku a more sympathetic smile. "Don’t worry about it! He probably gets tonnes of Instagram notifications every single day--"

Yuusaku's phone pinged.

Revolver had just liked one of his photos. A promo photo. It was from the same run, 57 weeks ago. 

Yuusaku choked on the air.

"This is perfect!" Takeru cried. 

"On what planet!?" Yuusaku exclaimed.

"Look, he obviously wants you to message him! This isn't 'wow what a weirdo', this is 'aww Playmakers kinda sweet, I'll ping him back'!" 

Yuusaku grimaced. "Never imitate Ryoken’s voice _ever again_. My ears are bleeding." 

"Oh, first name terms, are we?" Takeru snickered.

Yuusaku folded his arms and rolled his eyes. "Yes, well--"

Takeru saw his opportunity and took it. He swiped Yuusaku’s phone from right under his nose.

"Hey!" Yuusaku yelped, jumping to his feet.

Alas, he was too slow and too weak - Takeru actually went to the _gym_ , Yuusaku was doomed. The other boy had jumped up onto the bed and was typing furiously. 

"Takeru, you give me back my phone _right no_ w--"

"Okay, okay!" Takeru laughed, throwing the phone back to his friend. He held his hands up in surrender. 

Yuusaku caught it and quickly turned it over. 

_Conversation_ _with Revolver_

_Today_

_Just now_

Hey, I'm sorry if I'm reading this wrong, but do you want to get coffee some time? 

Yuusaku gaped at the message he absolutely did not send. He looked up at Takeru, fury and outrage colouring his expression vividly.

"I can't believe you actually _sent that_!"

Takeru looked confused. 

"I didn't send anything? What are you talking about?" 

"This!" Yuusaku looked back down at the screen and stopped dead in his tracks.

The text bubble was… next to Revolvers icon? 

This was a…

"Received message." Takeru finished his thought, leaning over his shoulder and gaping at the phone.

The two boys looked up slowly from the message, and then at each other.

Takeru's face split into grin. 

“Told you coffee date was the way.”


	20. Happy Anniversary

Inviting all their old Vrains friends for dinner had been a wonderful idea. 

Takeru had only made one half-hearted snipe about the Lost Incident, the Zaizens had told him off for it and the Bessho siblings had even helped clear up. Overall, a successful and pleasant evening. 

“We really should do this more often.” Emma sighed. “I think the last time we did anything like this must’ve been your wedding!” 

She and Ryoken were in the kitchen, finishing up with the dishes. Ryoken chuckled, “Yeah, we should definitely make time more often. Oh, actually, Yuusaku and I were thinking of trying to get tickets for Denki Fes this year.” He set the final plate down, leaning back against the counter and folding his arms as he continued. “It was one of our first dates, so it felt like a nice 5th anniversary thing. I’m sure he’d be more than happy to be surrounded by our friends for it.” 

“Yeah? Are you sure it wouldn’t ruin your special day, having us all hanging around…?” Emma raised an eyebrow.

Ryoken snorted, “Please, for the last couple years we forgot to celebrate it at all. No, the festival would be an excellent excuse for us all to get together again.” 

“Alright! So, the 14th, I’ll pencil it in!” 

Ryoken smiled. “15th, actually. But yes, please do.” 

Emma frowned. “No… you were married on the 14th.” 

Ryoken blinked at her. “I think I know my own anniversary.” 

“It was the same day as grandmother’s birthday, I wouldn’t forget.” Emma’s mouth was turning up into a wide smile. “Have you been celebrating it on the 15th?” 

Ryoken stared at her for a long moment, then turned back towards the main room. “Yuusaku!” He called, “Need you in here!” 

“Oh my God, you have been, haven’t you?” Emma laughed. 

“Have been what?” Yuusaku asked, coming over with Takeru trailing behind him.

“Yuusaku, when is our anniversary?”

“The 16th.” Yuusaku said, without missing a beat. 

Emma snort-laughed. 

“What?” Yuusaku looked from his husband’s confused blue eyes to his friend’s mirthful pink ones. She couldn’t seem to contain her laughter, doubling over. 

“You’re wrong.” Takeru said from behind him, looking just as amused as Ghost Girl. “It was the 12th.” 

“What?” All three voices chimed. 

“14th!” Ghost girl cackled, “Definitely the 14th, you morons!” 

“It was the  _ 15th _ ,” Ryoken looked pointedly at his husband. “It was the 15th!” 

“No. No, no. It was the 16th. We were going to do the 15th but the venue had to reschedule us.” 

“And then they rescheduled you again, to the 12th!” Takeru insisted. 

“Check your papers! Five-thousand yen for the winner!” 

* * *

That evening, Emma left fifteen-thousand yen richer. 

* * *


	21. In the Closet

“Hey, Yuusaku!” Takeru swung open the door to his best friend’s dorm room, holding a plastic bag full of snacks. 

Yuusaku was standing in the middle of the room, doing a very good impression of a deer caught in headlights. 

“...you okay bro?” 

Yuusaku nodded, then cleared his throat. “Yes. Yeah, why wouldn’t I be? What are you doing here?” 

Takeru furrowed his eyebrows, rustling the carrier bag pointedly. “Movie night, remember?” 

“That’s tomorrow, isn’t it?” 

“No? We said today for this week, ‘cause I have that interview on Friday. Can’t be up late tomorrow!”

"Oh, crap. Yeah, you’re right. Yeah. Sorry, I, uh” - his eyes flicked towards the cupboard in the corner of the room - “I forgot.” He finished lamely. 

“If you’re too busy tonight--” Takeru began, but Yuusaku cut him off.

“No, no, it’s okay. We hardly ever see each other, I’m not cancelling. Sit down. I’ll go get drinks.” 

Takeru beamed, taking a seat by the small TV in the dorm room. Just as he started dumping the snacks he’d brought onto the table, he noticed something peculiar. Two glasses. 

“Yuu, have you had company?” He asked, rolling one of them around in his hand. 

“What? No. Why?”

Oh, and was that… a Borrelsword hoodie? There was a Borrelsword Dragon hoodie tossed aside on his bed. Yuusaku hated that card. 

“No reason!” Takeru lied. 

By the time Yuusaku came back into the room, Takeru had also found a bullet-shaped earring and white hair on the hoodie. He knew exactly what was going on here. 

“Shall we get started then? I think we should watch Lord of the Rings. Extended.” 

“Extended?” Yuusaku asked, his eyes flicking to that cupboard again. 

“Yeah! Fellowship, extended. It’s my choice tonight, remember?”

And Takeru would choose to inconvenience the leader of the Hanoi any way he could. Yuusaku might have forgiven him, but Takeru wasn’t quite there yet. This victory may have been small, but it was immensely satisfying. 

* * *

In the cupboard, Ryoken crouched unceremoniously under a shelf. He didn’t think his body had ever contorted this way. Takeru had chosen to condemn him to three hours and forty-eight minutes of this. Fantastic. 

When this was over, he was definitely talking to Yuusaku about making their relationship public. 


	22. Cat-astrophe

This was not how Yuusaku expected his morning to go. 

He watched with a kind of morbid fascination as that rich kid came barreling out of his fancy hilltop home and down the hill. 

They didn’t often set the hot dog van up out here, since business was far better near the screens in the city centre. It was nice when they did come to Stardust Road, though. It was peaceful and usually the rich kid graced them with his presence. The guy had no sense of monetary value, so he usually tipped high enough that it was worth coming out here for his custom alone. 

Right now though, the rich kid seemed awfully keen to come get his hotdog. Yuusaku stared, watching as he ran down the hill faster than Yuusaku would’ve thought possible. The guy didn’t seem like the athletic type, but boy was he in a hurry to get down here. Or… a hurry to catch that… cat?

As he grew closer, Yuusaku confirmed that yes, the man was indeed chasing a small grey cat. It had what looked like a… duel disk? In its mouth. 

“Get  _ back here  _ you absolute  _ monster!”  _ The rich kid was yelling.

Yuusaku sprung into action, running out from behind the counter to try and grab the cat as it came past-- 

The cat went right through his legs, and the rich kid slammed into him. 

They went tumbling to the floor in a mess of limbs, both boys yelping and cursing on the way down. The rich kid barely seemed to register what had happened, quickly scrambling back to his feet. He scanned the area frantically for the cat, then stopped. He went deathly still. 

“Okay… okay, good kitty… gooood kitty, just give me back my duel disk. Okay? There are some important cards in there, kitty.” 

Sitting up as slowly as he could, worried a sudden movement might scare the cat off, Yuusaku turned to look in the same direction as the rich kid. There, sitting scarcely a few meters away, was the cat. It was still holding the other man’s duel disk in its mouth. 

Yuusaku shuffled backwards, slowly moving towards the van while the rich kid cooed at the innocent-looking cat. Ducking inside, he made a beeline for the tuna sandwich in the cupboard, grabbed it, then came back out. 

“Hey, cat.” He said, crouching and peeling the sandwich open. “Tuna.” 

The cat edged closer, still holding the duel disk, and began to sniff at the offering. The rich kid held his breath. 

She pounced, dropping the dueldisk in favour of her tastier new option. 

The rich kid dove for his duel disk, grabbing it and clutching it to his chest. 

“Witchcraft.” The rich kid gaped, watching Yuusaku pet the cat while it ate.

“You’re welcome.” He said flatly, shifting to sit on the floor beside the little demon. 

“Yes- sorry, thank you. I… thank you. This is… very important to me.” 

“Mhmm. Thought it might be. You owe me lunch.”

The rich kid blinked at him. “Lunch?” 

Yuusaku pointed at the corpse of his tuna sandwich. “That was meant to be mine.” 

“...oh. Sorry, uh…” The guy squinted, trying to read Yuusaku’s name badge.

“Yuusaku. You’re…?” 

“Ryoken. Hi.”

“Hi.” 

“When’s your lunch break? I’ll pick you up.”


	23. Tears&Twitter

Yuusaku wanted the ground to swallow him. 

He’d been left in charge of his new step-brother, for reasons he doubted he’d ever truly understand. 

The baby, Ai, was currently crying his eyes out for no apparent reason. 

At 8am. 

On the train.

Yuusaku was very, very tired. 

The man behind him tutted. 

Yuusaku grit his teeth, looking down at the child in the pram. Gently rocking the pram back and forth, he leaned closer. 

“Ai. You need to stop.” 

The baby continued to cry. 

“Ai, please, let’s be reasonable about this.” 

Ai had absolutely no intention of being reasonable about anything any time soon. 

The man behind him sighed loudly, muttering under his breath about how women and children should stay home if they’re going to be a nuisance. 

Okay, what the fuck? 

Yuusaku spun around to give the man a piece of his mind, but it seemed someone else had beat him to it. 

A guy around his age, with white hair and terrible fashion sense, had come over from the adjacent row. He was snapping a picture of the man.

“What did you just do?” The man hissed. 

“I’m putting your face on twitter. I have three million followers.” 

The man went pale. 

The younger man continued as he tapped away on his phone, “If you know who this dude is, please retweet. He’s a sexist asshole who should probably--” 

“Okay, okay, I’m sorry, man, what do you want? Don’t put that up, come on, my wife might see it!” 

The twitter-famous dude scoffed, and Yuusaku laughed. “Maybe she should know what you’re actually like.” Yuusaku said. Ai was still crying, but the commotion seemed to have piqued his interest too. He was quietening down, it was a miracle. 

The sexist moron mumbled something about millenials and snowflakes, before pushing past the twitter famous dude in an attempt to escape the situation. He moved down the train, away from them.

The twitter dude looked at Yuusaku. “You want me to post this?” 

“Do you actually have 3 million followers?” 

The guy shrugged. “Yeah. I’m a Vrains duellist.” 

“What, really?” Yuusaku raised an eyebrow, “Me too.” 

For absolutely no apparent reason, Ai’s volume went up to 150%. Yuusaku sighed. 

“You, child, are insufferable.”

“He’s lucky he’s cute.” The twitter-famous dude agreed, peering over Yuusaku’s shoulder. He smiled at Ai and-

Ai stopped. 

He just… stopped crying. 

Yuusaku looked to his new friend with a mixture of fascination and bewilderment. “How did you do that?” He whispered. 

“I… don’t know.” The guy whispered back.

“Next stop: Denki Station Main.” A voice crackled over the train speakers. “Denki Station main will be our next stop.” 

“This is me.” Yuusaku said. “Send me your vrains handle or something, we should duel sometime. Here.” He handed over one of the small business cards he kept with him, just as the doors began to open. “See you around, man. Thanks.” With that, he was off the train.

Kogami Ryoken looked down at the card and laughed. They’d already duelled plenty of times. 

Fujiki Yuusaku. Handle: Playmaker.


	24. Parent's Day

"I won't do it, Takeru." Yuusaku grumbled.

"If you don't do it who will?" 

Ai nodded his small head emphatically, "Pleeaaase  _ onii-sama _ ?" 

Yuusaku raised an eyebrow. Ai had  _ never _ called him  _ onii-sama _ before.

"It's a parents evening for a 7-year-old boy, how hard can it be? 

"Yeah! My parents left you in charge of me, right? So you have to do it!" Ai agreed. 

"You just want to see me embarrass myself, you gremlin." Yuusaku prodded the little boy in the forehead. Ai grinned.

"I don't know what you're talking about!"

'You know  _ exactly  _ what I'm talking about." 

"I don't?" Takeru asked, looking between the two step-brothers. "Why would you embarrass yourself?"

Ai snickered. 

"Kogami-sensei is… um." Yuusaku sighed.

"He's  _ nii-chan _ 's type!" Ai laughed. “And  _ nii-chan  _ reeaaally messed up last time!” 

Takeru's eyebrows shot into his hairline. "Okay, hold up, isn't he, like, 50?"

"Thats what I thought. Turns out, this is a new Kogami-sensei. He's the old Kogami-sensei's son, our age. Guy does it as a favor to his dad, he's a pro duelist the rest of the time." Yuusaku grumbled. "Revolver." 

* * *

Yuusaku heaved a sigh, staring at the school gates as they approached. They were perfectly on time. Yuusaku refused to spend any longer here than was strictly necessary. Ai was holding his hand and skipping along happily beside him. Little shit. 

Approaching the desk, he gave their names before taking a seat.

Kogami was prompt, appearing in the doorway at 11:05am exactly. 

"Ah, Ai? Come through." 

Yuusaku stood up, trailing behind his overly-enthusiastic kid brother.

Inside the room, everything was almost identical to the last time he'd been here; same posters and desks and pen pots. He tried to push all thoughts of his first meeting with Kogami out of his head as he settled into a seat at the desk.

"Good to see you again, Fujiki-san." 

"And you, Kogami-sensei." Yuusaku managed to meet the other man's piercing blue gaze, though it was a challenge. This was seriously awkward.

"I hope you don't intend to steal my dueldisk this time." The guy's tone was flat, his face giving nothing away. Yuusaku cringed. At least they were addressing the elephant in the room?

"...I'm very sorry about that." Yuusaku mumbled. Ai snickered, kicking his feet back and forth as he enjoyed the show.

"He really is sorry!" The 7-year-old demon supplied, "Hanoi stole one of his cards, that's all!"

Yuusaku shot a glare at the kid quickly, but Ai seemed entirely unphased.

"A card?" Kogami asked. 

Yuusaku reluctantly met the teacher's gaze again. “Yes. I, um. I'm also a pro duelist, you see. Revolver's followers, the Knights of Hanoi? I beat a few of them and one of them hacked my dueldisk. Stole a card." 

"So… that's why you took my duel disk, for the cards?" 

“Yes.” 

"But you knew I had no control over my fans and was unlikely to have your card, surely." He continued.

"I thought… maybe they gave it to you as a gift or something?"

"And the punch?"

"Hm?" 

"The punch. Why did you punch me in the face after taking the duel disk."

"Oh. Um. Rage?"

"Rage?" 

Yuusaku nodded. "Rage." 

“It doesn’t help that he forgets how normal people should act when he’s around pretty bo--” Before Ai could finish that sentence, Yuusaku elbowed him in the side. 

“...I swear I’m not normally a violent man.” Yuusaku offered. 

Kogami sighed. 

* * *

The following evening, Fujiki yuusaku received a special signed-for delivery. 

It was a single card, with a note. 

_ ‘I feel like I should have guessed you were Playmaker, tbh. I’ll pay you back for that punch in the Vrains. _

_ -Revolver’  _


	25. Partay

Yuusaku was not a heavy drinker, and especially not at parties. He had never really understood the appeal of losing all control around people you didn’t know. Takeru always told him to loosen up, trust people a bit more, but, well… he and Takeru were very different people. 

Takeru was the only reason he was at this party. Soulburner had wanted to introduce Yuusaku to all his new friends, since they were taking the same computer science course. It was a kind gesture, intended to help Yuusaku make friends in a new place. Unfortunately, it had ended up with Takeru playing drinking games with his friends whilst Yuusaku quietly slipped away to find an empty corner where no one would bother him. 

He thought he’d succeeded; there was a table with some floor cushions in the back corner of the main living space. Everyone else seemed to have forgotten this little area even existed, since it was partially obscured by a curtain. However, just as he settled down, he noticed a half-empty glass of water sat on the table. 

Not a moment later, its owner reappeared. 

“Oh.” The white-haired stranger said. “Hello.” 

He took his seat, pulling his glass towards himself. 

“Hi. Sorry. I thought it was empty.” Yuusaku shuffled uncomfortably in his seat, wondering if he should just go. Glancing out from behind the curtain, he saw the crowds beginning to thicken again. He shuddered.

“Stay.” The man offered, “ I’m sober too.” 

Yuusaku felt the tension drain from his shoulders. “Thanks.” He mumbled, “I’m  _ this  _ close to just going home…” 

“Who are you here with?” The man took a sip of his drink. 

“Uh…” Yuusaku leant over the table to try and see where Takeru had gotten to. “That one.” He pointed.

“The guy… drinking beer out of a shoe?” 

Yuusaku nodded. “It’s called a ‘shoe-y’, apparently.”

“Valuable information, thank you.” 

Yuusaku snorted. “What’s your name?” 

“Ryoken. Yours?” 

“Yuusaku. Why’d you drink that water?” Yuusaku asked, dropping his chin into his hand.

“Because it’s mine…?” 

“But it was here with me, while you were gone. I could be a psycho.” 

“Oh.” Ryoken looked at his water, then back up to Yuusaku. “Are you?” 

“No, but that’s not the point.” 

“I suppose not.” Ryoken took another sip of his water. “Is this why you’re not out there getting drunk? You assume people are out to get you?” 

Yuusaku shrugged. “I just don’t see the appeal of it. How about you?” 

“Antibiotics. I can see the appeal of it usually. If you have to come to something like this, I can understand if you’d rather not remember it.”

Yuusaku raised an eyebrow, “Why are you here, then?” 

Ryoken leaned across the table, then pointed at a guy with grey hair and a fabulous shirt. “Best friend. He wouldn’t have come alone.”

Yuusaku stared at him for a long moment.

“...what?” 

“You’re Spectre’s best friend?” 

“Yes…? You know him?” 

“No, but Takeru does.” 

“...shoe-y is  _ Takeru _ ?” Ryoken gawped. 

Yuusaku nodded. “I’m Takeru’s best friend.”

“So… you’re my blind date tomorrow?” 

“I think so.” Yuusaku hummed. 

“...not so blind I guess.” 

Yuusaku chuckled, shaking his head. Ryoken buried his face in his hands. 

“Do we tell them?” Yuusaku wondered aloud. 

“How about we just go and get some dinner now? They’ll be fine,” - Ryoken motioned vaguely towards their friends - “they have each other.” 

“...yeah, I would love to get out of here.”


	26. Dinner Dash

Ryoken laughed at another terrible joke. 

This was the worst experience of his life. 

Actually, maybe having to watch his father torture children was slightly higher on his list. This was a close second, though. 

“I know right? So anyway, I told him duelling wasn’t a  _ real _ job.” 

Sure, Tom. It’s not like pro duellists are highly skilled performers, incredible strategists and public personalities. Nope. Fake job. 

Ryoken hummed along, mostly ignoring the obnoxious asshole as he watched the clock. He'd have left by now if this guy wasn't his ride home. 

Tom was Spectre's cousin, this blind date had been his idea. A terrible idea. Was he allowed to fire Spectre over this? He thought maybe he was allowed to fire Spectre over this. 

Ryoken laughed at yet another terrible joke and hid behind his menu.

"Good evening, may I take your orders?" 

Looking up at the sound of the familiar voice, Ryoken was pleasantly surprised to see the bright green eyes of one Fujiki Yuusaku. Yuusaku had no idea who he was, of course, because Revolver was far better at hiding his identity than Playmaker. 

"Yeah, get me the chef's special. And a bottle of your finest red for the table." 

Ryoken rolled his eyes.

Yuusaku seemed to catch it, but didn't say anything.

"And for you, sir?" He asked instead.

"Oh, he'll have--" Tom started.

" _ He _ will speak for himself." Ryoken snipped, smiling icily over his menu at his sorry excuse for a date. 

Tom looked away. Good.

* * *

After the longest wait of Ryoken’s life, Yuusaku finally returned with platters of food.

“I think that’s everything.” Yuusaku smiled. His eyes flicked away from Ryoken’s face and to his plate pointedly, before he turned back to Tom.

Ryoken looked down at his plate, and noticed a small card sticking out from underneath. 

"You wine is en route, sir.” 

“How long does it take to bring a bottle of wine?” Tom scoffed. 

While Yuusaku artfully kept his terrible date distracted, Ryoken quietly tugged the card forward. 

**_Our FREE Save Me service!_ **

_ If you would like our staff to help you escape  _

_ your date,  _ **_order a glass of water with no lime_ ** _.  _

_ No problem is too small to use this service!  _

_ Our priority is the happiness of our patrons.  _

“I’m very sorry sir, it won’t be long.” Yuusaku glanced in his direction again, and Ryoken met his eyes. 

“In the meantime, could I perhaps have a glass of water? No lime.” 

Yuusaku’s lips tilted up into a small smile of acknowledgement. He nodded. “Of course, sir.” 

He turned on his heel, heading back towards the bar area. Ryoken heard him repeat the order to a barmaid before he disappeared behind a door with a ‘STAFF ONLY’ sign. 

“Can you believe the service in here?” Tom scoffed. 

“Yeah.” Ryoken smirked to himself, watching the barmaid approach. “It’s pretty unbelievable.” 

The bright eyed young woman made it over to them seconds later. “One glass of-- oops!” 

She threw the water over Ryoken unceremoniously. 

“You  _ clutz! _ ” Tom yelled, “I’ll have you  _ fired _ for this!” 

“You will do  _ no such thing. _ ” Ryoken growled at the man.  _ Asshole _ . He looked back at the barmaid. “It’s okay. Don’t worry about it, it’s only water.” 

“Yes, yeah, it’ll come straight out! In fact, if you come with me we can help you dry off right now!” 

“That would be ideal.” Ryoken smiled, standing up. 

Tom was saying something about being quick and the food getting cold, but Ryoken ignored him completely. He mouthed a ‘thank you’ to the woman, who’s lips quirked up. She led him through the ‘STAFF ONLY’ door. Inside, Yusaku held Ryoken’s coat out to him.

“This is yours, right?” 

“Yes.” Ryokan smiled, taking it from him and shrugging it on. 

“I’m so sorry, we don’t normally spill  _ that  _ much water…” The barmaid smiled sheepishly. 

“I’d have taken buckets more to get away from him, don’t worry about it. Unfortunately, he’s my ride home. Any suggestions?” 

“Why was he bitching about wine if he’s driving?” Yuusaku groused. 

Ryokan shrugged, “Probably trying to get me drunk.” 

Yuusaku shuddered. 

“We can either call you a cab, or Yuu’s off shift so he can take you home. Your call!” The barmaid offered. 

Yuusaku glared at her. It seemed the latter option hadn’t been discussed with him. 

“I’ll take the lift, if that’s alright.” 

Get-of-date free card and a chance to wind up Playmaker? This night really had taken a turn for the better. Ryoken pulled a few  ¥ 10,000 bills from his wallet. 

“Thank you, really. I’m not sure how tips work here...”

The girl stared at the set of notes in his hand.

“That’s… more than twice the cost of your meal.”

Ryoken shrugged. “Take it.” He pulled out an equal amount, offering it to Yuusaku. “You too.” 

“I think he’d prefer your number.” The bairmaid quipped playfully. 

Yuusaku quickly grabbed the money, glaring at his friend. 

“Actually, I’m not a creep. Thanks, money is good. Lets get you home.”

He turned on his heel, heading out the back door. 

Ryoken glanced at the barmaid, raising an eyebrow. “He’s...? Me?” 

She nodded her head, grinning. 

Ryoken smirked. “Thanks.”

Maybe he wouldn’t be firing Spectre after all. 


	27. Books&Banter

Ryoken settled into the armchair by his bookshelf. 

It was a pleasant feeling, having finished all of the week’s assignments. It had been a long time since he had an evening to himself like this. He opened his current choice of reading - Dostoyevsky’s Crime and Punishment - and allowed the words to consume him.

Or, rather, he allowed the first sentence to consume him before there was a loud knock on the door. 

Ryokan sighed. 

He rose from his armchair, setting the book down. For a moment, he felt it staring up at him sadly. 

He moved towards the door, but by the time he got there, Yuusaku had already picked the lock. Typical.

“Why is this place so fancy?” He asked, kicking his shoes off. 

Despite being a student at the local university, Ryoken had opted to rent a studio apartment rather than go into dorms. It was quieter, still close to campus, and far nicer. 

“Because I’m rich. What are you doing here?” 

“Takeru’s bringing someone over to our dorm room tonight.”

It also meant Ryoken could avoid problems like that.

“I take it you want to stay here?” 

“Yeah, thanks.” 

Yuusaku dumped his bag and wandered into the room. 

So much for a relaxing evening. 

“Crime and Punishment?” Yuusaku asked, calling back to him. 

“Yeah. You know it?” 

“Not really.” 

He came back into the room to see Yuusaku sitting in his armchair, flicking through the book.

“Tell me about it.” 

An evening discussing the book with Yuusaku was not what he’d envisioned. A different kind of relaxing, but relaxing nonetheless. 


	28. Exhibit A

Yuusaku wandered around the exhibition with a vague sense of unease. 

He didn’t really know what he was doing here. He’d been invited as a special guest, but he didn’t know why. He’d received a named invitation in the mail, and as soon as he verified it wasn’t spam he’d been utterly dumbfounded. This was not the kind of place where he belonged. Everyone else seemed to be wearing clothes that cost as much as Yuusaku’s entire wardrobe, including the wood. They were eating the weird mini-food like it was normal and talking about how the  _ art really spoke them _ . 

He sighed. 

Turning a corner, he stopped to stand in front of one of the larger pieces of art. He stared at it, trying to figure out what everyone else was seeing.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a familiar figure turn the corner he’d just come around. 

Hm.

That guy was definitely following him. 

That was more interesting than all these white and yellow squares. 

Turning around, he quickly spotted the figure that he’d been seeing in his peripheral. The figure was turned away from him, looking at a piece on the opposite wall. Yuusaku made his way over quickly, and tapped the man on the shoulder.

Kogami Ryoken turned around. 

A beat of silence passed between them. 

He was dressed for the occasion, of course he was, he was rich enough to own a yacht. 

“You were invited too?” Yuusaku found himself asking, after the silence had grown uncomfortable. 

Ryoken blinked at him. “...you know you’re my plus one, don’t you?” 

Yuusaku stared at him.

“...I’ll take that as a no.” Ryoken sighed. “I was wondering why you didn’t wait for me to pick you up.” 

“Is that why you’ve been following me around?”

“...I wasn’t sure how to approach this situation.”

“Why didn’t you tell me you were inviting me?”

Ryoken furrowed his brows in confusion. “There was a letter. With the invite.”

“...I didn’t see it. You could’ve called.” Yuusaku grabbed a glass of champagne from one of the servers, suddenly feeling like he needed the drink. “How did you get invited anyway?”

“I’m one of the artists.”

Yuusaku snorted so fast the champagne went up his nose. 


	29. Found

“What do you mean you don’t remember where you put him?”

Ryoken furrowed his brows, holding his chin thoughtfully. He sighed.

“Nope. It’s no use, I can’t remember.”

Whenever Yuusaku came over to the house at the top of Stardust Road, there was a rule. Leave your dueldisk at home, or Ryoken is allowed to mute Ai. That rule had been extended last night; Ai had used his ability to move the dueldisk for evil; he repeatedly attempted to cover the screen, or knock over their snacks, or even steal Ryoken’s controller. That had led to a new agreement between the young men - Ryoken was also allowed to hide the duel disk somewhere Ai couldn’t get out.

To prevent Yuusaku feeling sorry for the damn thing and releasing him, only Ryoken knew the pest’s hiding spot. 

“You’ve lost my son.” Yuusaku stated.

“He’s not your son, he’s an A.I.  _ It’s _ an A.I.” 

“You have  _ lost _ ,” Yuusaku repeated, “my  _ son _ .” 

Ryoken sighed. “We’ll find him. There are only so many places I could have put him. Come on.” 

He rose to his feet, moving around the room to trawl through cupboards. Yuusaku sighed, taking the other half of the room. Small, dark, confined spaces. Places where a duel disk with wings wouldn’t be able to fully expand. Cupboards with heavy doors, where he wouldn’t be able to get out. 

After nearly half an hour, they were very close to giving up. 

Yuusaku opened what he vowed would be his last drawer - after this, he was just going to figure out a way to unmute Ai remotely - and stared. 

There was a small black box in the drawer. 

He took it out, opening it to reveal what was  _ definitely  _ an engagement ring. 

Turning around, he watched Ryoken mill around the room with a look of immense concentration on his face. Was this a set up? Was he meant to find it, and that was the proposal? 

“Ryo…” Yuusaku started, but Ryoken suddenly lit up.

“I know where he is!” He said, rushing over to the kitchen. He swung the fridge door open, and pulled out the duel disk triumphantly. 

Yeah, no, he wasn’t meant to find this.

“The  _ fridge _ ?” Yuusaku laughed, setting the box discretely back into the drawer. 

“Yes, it was perfect because you’re too lazy to ever get anything from in here yourself.” Ryoken explained. 

Yuusaku shut the drawer before making his way over to the kitchen. 

He’d just have to pretend to be surprised, when the moment did come. 


	30. Survey

Playmaker stared down at the survey.

This had been sent to him as mail in the Vrains. The subject line had read ‘IMPORTANT. COMPLETE BY 3PM TO AVOID ACCOUNT ERASURE’. It seemed like spam, so Playmaker had hacked into it carefully, only to find this. 

do you like revolver? 

_ Check yes or no  _

Yes  □

No  □

Playmaker’s eye twitched. 

After recovering from the initial shock, he opened a line to Kusanagi.

“Have you seen this?” He asked promptly.

“Yeah.” Kusanagi sounded like he was barely containing his amusement. “There’s no malware or anything remotely suspicious. It was only sent to you, so it's almost definitely not phishing. Maybe you should just… fill it in?” He laughed. 

“Who is it from? Can you trace it?” 

“Yuu, I think it’s pretty obvious who it’s from.” 

“Will you  _ just  _ trace it? Please?” 

“Sure, fine, but y’know, that kid clearly likes you. And his social skills are almost as bad as yours. I really wouldn’t be surprised if-- oh.” Kusanagi stopped. “That’s… sweet?”

“What? Who is it?” 

“Looks like Spectre’s setting you two up.” Kusanagi snickered. 

He sighed, “I knew Ryoken wouldn’t send something like this.” 

Kusanagi paused. “Ryoken? Since when were you on a first name basis?” 

“Since we started dating 5 months ago.” 

While Kusanagi sputtered in shock, Playmaker opened the survey. 

He checked ‘no’ and sent it off. 


	31. Have you turned it off and on again?

“You’re through to IT support.” 

“Oh. Hi again.” 

“Hello.” 

Yuusaku was incredibly good at hacking, and usually considered himself to be above average with technology in general. However, it seemed his expertise didn’t quite extend to getting his damn university IT account to work. 

“Sorry. I’m not completely incompetent. Really.” Given this was the seventh call he’d made this week, he wasn’t sure his statement was very convincing.

“Mmhmm.” The support-man drawled. 

It was always the same man. He must’ve just been another student, they only gave the night shifts to the part-timers. 

“What’s wrong with it now?” He asked. 

Yuusaku sighed. “I changed the password last week because--”  _ because Revolver hacked my dueldisk to try and take Ai, so I rerouted him through the university system to get rid of him.  _ “--it… uh. Wasn’t secure.” 

“Okay. And?”

“And for some reason, it’s not accepting my new password. It keeps saying it’s wrong.” 

“Are you typing it in right?” 

“Like I said. I’m not completely incompetent. Really.” 

“Okay, well, how about I reset it for you?” 

“Yeah, please. Thank you.” 

* * *

“Thank you, Kusanagi. I really didn’t want to bother the IT support people again…” Yuusaku sighed, bringing his laptop to his good friend and IT mentor. 

“No problem, but I might not be able to help. Might be something the administrators have to deal with.”

“Yeah, I know… still, it can’t hurt, right?” 

“Yeah, defi--” Kusanagi paused, staring at the results of the tests he’d just done. 

“What?” Yuusaku asked, leaning closer to the screen. “What is it?” 

“Uh… nothing. Nothing, this doesn’t make any sense, let me run it again.”

“What? What doesn’t make any sense?” Yuusaku asked, glaring at the numbers on the screen. He didn’t know what code Kusanagi had run, so it didn’t mean anything to him. 

“Let me just… let me try it again.” Kusanagi murmured. 

Fifteen tests later, both boys stared at the screen as it offered only one explanation for Yuusaku’s problems. 

“Why would an administrator intentionally fuck with me.”

* * *

“Hello, IT support.” Ryoken chimed. It had taken Playmaker far longer than usual to call this time. Perhaps he hadn’t needed his account? 

“Revolver.” Yuusaku grumbled. “I don’t know what you’re planning to do to my university but you better stop it.” 

What? 

“I know it’s you! We traced the credentials of the account that’s been hacking mine!” 

Oh. He hadn’t been clearing up after himself very well, he didn’t think Playmaker would  _ check _ . 

“Well? Aren’t you going to say anything?” 

Revolver hung up. 

Well, so much for this idea. 

Maybe Baira was right. Maybe he  _ should  _ just ask the guy out to coffee. 


	32. Link

It had all gone to shit after that last Tower of Hanoi duel.

Something about being stuck in that datastorm with Revolver had really messed him up. 

He was hearing voices. Or rather,  _ a voice _ .

Revolver’s voice. He was sure of it. 

It only happened occasionally, which made Yuusaku wonder if it could perhaps be controlled. It seemed to be related to the intensity of the thought passing through Kogami Ryoken’s mind. Had their consciences become entangled? Was this some kind of side effect of duelling in those conditions, with their very beings on the line?

_ ‘I want pepperoni pizza.’  _

Yuusaku sighed. 

He’d learnt a lot about Kogami Ryoken since this began, and his terrible diet was top of the list. It seemed today was going to be one of those pizza days; he would regret moving to a boat as he intensely craved Denki Deli’s Pepporoni Master. He’d plan a route to dock somewhere so he could order a pepperoni from somewhere, but whatever he ordered would be disappointing when contrasted against his memory of the Denki Deli. He would consider coming back to Denki City for a night, remember that would potentially involve running into people he knew, then just return to sea. 

_ ‘Maybe I should dock...;’ _

And so it began. 

* * *

The nightmares of The Incident had never really left him. It had been a while since he suffered from one though, and he’d almost forgotten just how horrific they could be.

Yuusaku woke up with a start, a voice yelling in his head. 

‘ _ Yuusaku? Yuusaku, are you okay? Think of three things! Yuusaku?!’ _

He stared into the darkness, trying to get his bearings.

‘ _ This is ridiculous, there’s no way you can hear me. But I could’ve sworn I just heard you screaming. Yuusaku?’  _

Slowly returning to reality, Yuusaku recognised the voice to be Ryoken’s. 

Had Ryoken heard him? Yuusaku had tried to communicate back to him before, but it had never worked. Maybe it would work now?

He screwed his eyes shut. ‘Ryoken?’ 

_ ‘Yuusaku!? It really is you! How are you-- what on earth is going on?’ _

‘Dock. How far are you from Denki? Dock.’

‘ _ You can actually hear me right now?’  _

‘I’ve been hearing you for months. I’m not opposed to dating you, by the way, I don’t know what gave you that impression.’

_ ‘...I’m docking, see you in five.’  _


	33. Bowties&Breakdowns

“That’s a really nice bowtie.” Ryoken slurred. 

“Mhmm.” Yuusaku nodded politely, polishing a glass before setting it back in its place, behind the bar. “You already said.” 

“Sorry. It’s just nice. The whole--” Ryoken waved in his general direction with his free hand, “bartender vibe. It’s good.” 

“Well, I  _ am _ a bartender.” Yuusaku drawled, checking the time. Only five minutes had passed since the last time he checked. Man. 

“You know what I really don’t get?” Ryoken sat up straight suddenly, slamming his gin and tonic down.

“No, but I’m sure you’re going to tell me…” 

“I don’t get why he didn’t just say no!” 

And there it was.

This guy had been downing drink after drink for nearly an hour. For the first half an hour, he’d been silent and gloomy. The transition to overly talkative had come slowly, and only now was he finally about to spill  _ why he was such a mess _ . 

“You’re mad that you… didn’t get rejected?” 

Ryoken scoffed, “Oh, no, I was definitely rejected. But, like,” - he waved his hands around in an utterly meaningless motion - “ _ politely _ .” 

Yuusaku stared at him. 

“Right…? What… what did you actually say to this guy?” Yuusaku grabbed another glass from the shelf, leaning against the bar as he polished and listened. As far as workplace entertainment went, this really wasn’t too bad. 

“Well, we duel a lot. In the Vrains.” 

“Mhmm.”

“So, I asked him to duel me last week. My  _ plan  _ was,” - he took a big gulp of his drink - “I’d say loser had to buy coffees, then lose on purpose, then I got to buy him coffee.” 

“Right…?” Oh no. 

“But when I said, hey how about loser buys coffee, he cancelled the duel?”

“Right.” This sounded familiar. 

“But he said it was because of exams so, I don’t know if he’s actually just busy?”

“Yeah. Did you try again…?” Yuusaku had forgotten about the glass, now listening to the stranger’s story with rapt attention. 

“Yeah! I asked him to a movie!” 

Oh. Oh, dear. 

“I thought that would be obvious enough, you know?” 

“What happened?” Yuusaku asked, in his best I-definitely-don’t-know-what’s-coming voice.

“He said my taste in movies was terrible so he wouldn’t come.” 

That was what he’d said to Revolver, yes. 

“But we  _ do  _ have different tastes? So I’m pretty sure I’ve been rejected but I’m not sure. It sucks. I wish he’d just  _ say something _ .”

“Maybe he’s wishing the same thing.” Yuusaku blurted.

“What do you mean? I asked him out! Twice!” Yuusaku winced. 

“Well, sure, but… it seems like maybe he just didn’t know you meant it that way…?” 

Ryoken stared into his drink. “Yeah… yeah, he is the oblivious type…” 

“Oblivious is a bit harsh.” Yuusaku frowned.

Ryoken squinted at him. “You don’t even know him” 

“Uh… well, yeah, but… from what you’ve described…” he mumbled. 

Suddenly, the man jumped to his feet. 

“Where are you going?” 

“The Vrains. Thank you for your advice.” There was a firm determination in his eyes as he pulled on his coat. 

Yuusaku waved him off. “No problem. See you later.” 

He needed to get into the Vrains the minute his shift was over. 

Maybe oblivious  _ was _ the right word. 


	34. what's that coming over the hill

Yuusaku took a deep breath, staring at the large castle looming above him. 

A beast, murderous and horrific in every way, hid within those walls. He had to go in, and he had to get it to release his friends.

He took a deep breath, and stepped past the gates. 

He had half expected something to jump out of the shadows at him the moment he did so, but no. The cold courtyard remained still and silent. 

He continued up the winding path, one hand firmly around the leather pouch which held his duelling monsters. If it came down to it, he was prepared. 

The door swung open as he approached, of its own accord. Yuusaku swallowed back his trepidation and entered. 

The hallway was lit with pairs of candles along the walls. A musty smell wafted towards him. He remembered Kusanagi, his long-time friend, telling him of the castle’s blueprints; taking the staircase in front of him down one flight should lead him to the dungeons. If his friends were still alive, that’s where they’d be. 

Quickly and quietly, he descended the stairs. The dungeons came into sight quickly, with four of the cells clearly in use. Perhaps he could avoid bumping into the monster?

Approaching the cluster of cells, he saw the Zaizen siblings, Takeru and Emma all trapped.

Aoi spotted him first. “Yuusaku!” She whispered excitedly. The others all looked up at the sound of her voice, then followed her gaze to him.

“Yuu!” Takeru jumped to his feet.

“Fujiki! How did you make it in here?” Emma ran over to the bars of her cell to get a closer look.

“Nevermind that, you need to get us out!” The elder Zaizen pleaded, “It’ll be back any moment!”

“What actually  _ happened _ ?” Yuusaku asked, quickly fishing the lockpicking tools he’d brought from his pocket.

“It was the same for all of us.” Emma said, looking around her friends, then back at Yuusaku. “I was the first. I came to investigate rumours of a monster taking prisoners, and when I got here it was waiting for me at the door. It asked me what I saw, and after I answered it threw me in here.” 

Aoi nodded, “It was the same question, for all of us, except it waited until we got down here - to try and get the others out - before it asked us.” 

Yuusaku glanced at her as he worked on Emma’s lock, raising an eyebrow. “So I probably haven’t snuck past it, then?” 

“That’s why you need to be  _ quick _ .” The elder Zaizen said.

“Yes. Do be quick.” A new voice.

The four in the cells gasped, backing away from their bars. Yuusaku spun around, one hand on his leather pouch, but stopped. 

“Oh.” He said, to the young man stood at the end of the hallway. “Did you come to help too? Quick, the monster will be back any minute, apparently.” 

Yuusaku spun back around to the lock, continuing to work on it. 

“You want me to… help you escape the monster…?” The man asked, coming closer.

Yuusaku glanced back, raising an eyebrow. The guy had come into the light now, and Yuusaku realised he didn’t recognise him. That was odd. Theirs was the only village for miles, where had this man come from?

“Yes…? Unless, for some reason, you’ve chosen to side with it over your fellow men?” Yuusaku raised an eyebrow at him.

“Yuusaku…” Aoi whispered. She sounded frightened. 

Yuusaku looked at her quickly. Her eyes were glued to the man. He looked around to his other friends and saw that they were all the same - staring at this stranger with a look of pure terror on their faces. 

“Yuusaku, is that your name?” The stranger asked. 

“Yes… what’s yours?” Yuusaku stood from his crouched position by the cell door, facing the stranger properly.

“That depends… what do you see?” 

Yuusaku paused, recognising the question. He looked back at his friends, then at the stranger. Oh. 

“I see… a young man, with white hair and blue eyes. A stranger. I’ve lived here my whole life, so I know you’re certainly not from around here. My friends don’t seem to see that, though.” 

The man smiled widely, tears pricking at his eyes. “No,” he said, “They don’t. They're seeing a monster.”

“I can help you break this curse, I take it.”

"Will you...?"

Yuusaku hummed. "Let my friends out. And you're clearly rich, so I'll have you pay for the property my friends live on too. Their landlords are wicked." 

The man blinked in surprise. "You don't want to know how I ended up like this? Or how to help me?"

Yuusaku shrugged. "Will you buy the landlords out?" 

"Sure?" 

"Then I don't care about the rest. What's your name?"

"Ryoken." He said, still staring at Yuusaku with a hint of incredulity. 

"Spare me the long-winded tales, Ryoken, and just tell me the bits I need to know." He held a hand out. "Dungeon keys."

In a daze, the Ryoken handed them over. 


	35. it never came up

Ryoken didn’t really know what to make of this situation. 

He came back out of the bathroom, and went down the hall to where his wonderful husband was tapping away on his laptop. 

“Yuusaku, dear?” 

“Yes, Ryo?” He looked up, recognising the unusual lilt in his husband’s tone. 

“Why is there a drunk man sleeping in our bathtub?”

Yuusaku nodded. “Good question, dear.”

There was a beat of silence.

“Do you have an answer to that question?” 

“...he’s my father.” 

Ryoken gaped at him.

“What?”

“Yeah.”

“I thought your parents were dead.”

Yuusaku’s eyebrows shot up. “Why would you think that?” 

“You never talk about them, they weren’t invited to our wedding, we’ve been married for five years and I’ve never  _ met _ them--” 

“Okay, point taken.” He sighed, leaning back in his chair. “Well, my father is the kind of man who shows up after fifteen years and passes out in the bathtub. That’s why you don’t know him.”

Ryoken nodded, dropping into the chair beside Yuusaku. 

“And your mother?”

“Divorced him and moved to Europe, years ago.” Yuusaku shrugged. “She left me under his care, so obviously I was kidnapped.”

Ryoken winced. 

“I grew up in an orphanage after The Incident. He never bothered to claim me when we were found.” 

Ryoken tried to read something from Yuusaku’s face - sadness, anger, regret, anything - but his husband seemed truly indifferent. “Why is he here now?” He asked. 

Yuusaku shrugged. “Money? Probably? He said he has regrets and that he wants to make things right, but then he threw up and passed out in the bathtub, so.” 

“Do you want me to throw him out?” Ryoken offered. He picked up Yuusaku’s mug, taking a sip of his coffee.

Yuusaku snorted, “I could’ve thrown him out myself. No. I don’t think he’s a  _ bad  _ man.” Yuusaku chewed his lip. “He couldn’t look after me, so he didn’t. I didn’t expect to ever see him again, but I don’t mind hearing him out.” 

“Okay. Let’s see how this goes, then, I guess.” Ryoken offered him the mug back. 

Yuusaku took a long sip of the coffee. 

“I don’t know how I’d feel if I was doing this alone. Thanks. And… sorry, I guess. This might not be fun.” 

Ryoken smiled, “Hey, he’s got nothing on  _ my _ dad.” 

Yuusaku snorted. 


	36. Midnight what?

Once again, Ryoken gently extracted himself from the covers and snuck out of the room. 

This time, Yuusaku was awake.

He _knew_ it. He knew Ryoken was up to something. For the past week, he had been sneaking out like this. He came home before Yuusaku woke up, exhausted from the lack of sleep, and acted like nothing was wrong. 

There was one obvious explanation, which Takeru had pointed out. Yuusaku found it very difficult to believe Ryoken could be  _ cheating  _ though, the man could barely function in one relationship. None of the alternatives made any sense either, mind - Ryoken had picked up a night shift at some job that he didn’t want Yuusaku to know about? Ryoken joined the mafia? Ryoken was planning another takeover of the Vrains for absolutely no reason?

As the man in question closed the door to the apartment behind him, Yuusaku jumped out of bed. This time, he would get to the bottom of it. He got dressed and grabbed his phone when he noticed -- Ryoken had taken his dueldisk? Shrugging, Yuusaku grabbed his own. It was entirely possible he and his mistress were going on VR dates, he supposed.

Ryoken had not taken the car out, and he was still close enough that Yuusaku could see him. He was heading down towards the docks on foot. 

A boat trip? He was going on midnight boat trips?

Following him down quickly, Yuusaku watched as his partner climbed aboard the yacht. He didn’t lift the anchor though, or show any indication of trying to sail. No, he just went into the cabin. Then, all was still. 

Yuusaku snuck aboard, pushing the door open just slightly to peer inside. 

He was laying down, dueldisk on. He had gone into the Vrains. 

Yuusaku moved over to sit beside him. A few quick taps on Ryoken’s duel disk revealed where in the Vrains he had materialised, but the coordinates were unfamiliar. With a sigh, Yuusaku pulled his on his own dueldisk. 

“Into the Vrains!”

* * *

Perched on a rooftop, not far from where his partner had materialised, Yuusaku scanned the horizon. He didn’t know how he was actually supposed to  _ find _ \--

“Appear! Borrelsword dragon!” 

Yuusaku spun on his heel. There, in the distance, he could see Borrelsword Dragon rise into the sky. 

Ah. Found him.

Riding the wind, Yuusaku made it to the scene of the action just as the duel was concluded.

“Direct attack!” 

Ryoken was not using his Revolver avatar. He was in one of the smart-casual date avatars he’d made while they were in the earlier stages of their relationship. Given he’d taken over 100 hours in character creation to make it, Yuusaku was pleased to see it was getting more use.

This was a strange reason to use it though.

“Revo.” Yuusaku called, jumping off his D-board to approach his partner.

Ryoken blinked at him. “Oh. Hi.” 

The group of children Revolver had just trounced gawped at him.

“You’re  _ Playmaker. _ ” One of them said reverently. 

Oh, shit. He probably should’ve switched avatar, too. 

“And you are?” He asked, deciding to leverage his status for some answers.

“I’m--” 

“ _ This _ ,” Ryoken cut in, “is a selection of small gremlins who have been terrorising Spectre. They are the last of their ridiculous group to suffer my wrath.”

The boys - minors, according to the tags on their accounts - looked at each other guiltily. 

“So you’ve been sneaking out in the middle of the night to trash children in duels?” 

“Is that a problem?”

“Honestly, I’m relieved.” 


	37. Sparkles&Clarity

“Hello again, Kogami-san.” Yuusaku smiled his best service-smile, grateful for the coffee in his system. He was always a mess when this guy came in, at least his brain was awake this time.

“Hello, Fujiki-san.” The customer said, perusing their most expensive cabinet. 

This man had been in once or twice a week for the last month. He always bought one of the more tasteful items of jewellery from their more expensive cabinet, and always took at least an hour to decide what exactly he wanted. That meant Yuusaku got to spend about an hour talking to a pretty attractive 20-something year old who was clearly excellent boyfriend material. 

He’d talk in depth about Kyoka’s taste, when she’d likely wear this particular piece, what aesthetic she’d need. It was a world away from the guys that usually came in; it was far more usual to have men make a beeline for the female employees, point at something expensive and say ‘is this nice?’. 

Yuusaku hovered, as was his job, and waited for Kogami to request his assistance. 

After five minutes of silence, he thought perhaps something was wrong. 

“Is everything okay, sir…?” 

“Hm? Oh. Yes. Fine.” He hesitated, glancing between Yuusaku and the cabinet. “I’m after something green today.” He said simply. 

“Green?” Yuusaku prompted. He began to pull out their colour-organised binders, flicking through to the various ‘green’ pages they had for each collection. He laid them out on the counter. “We have spring, emerald, grass, avocado… what shade suits your purpose today, Kogami-san?” 

Kogami came over, leaning over to look at the books. He was wearing aftershave today? That was new. 

“Ryoken.” He said. 

“Sorry…?” Yuusaku asked, glancing over the pages for a shade called ‘Ryoken’. 

“My name. Call me Ryoken.” 

“Oh.” That was new, too. “Yuusaku, then. Me. I’m Yuusaku, I mean.” Fuck, the coffee wasn’t helping. Why did he ever think retail work was a good idea for him? He had the social skills of a particularly inept spoon.

“Yuusaku, I’m looking for…” Kogami stared right at him, then back at the books, then up at him again. “...emerald, I think.”

“...like my eyes?” Yuusaku ventured. 

Kogami nodded. “Yes.” 

A beat of silence passed between them, before Yuusaku cleared his throat. 

“Okay. Emerald.” He flipped to the relevant pages in all the books, before Kogami’s voice stopped him. 

“Ah, actually, we can discount earrings. The recipient doesn’t have piercings.”

Yuusaku stared at him. “But you’ve bought Kyoka earrings before.” 

“This isn’t for Kyoka.”

Maybe he was wrong. This guy was terrible boyfriend material. Unless this was just for a friend? He couldn’t ask. ‘Are you a cheating toerag’ was a lose-your-job kind of question to ask.

“Okay.” Yuusaku said instead. “So. What’s this person’s taste like?”

“Well, I’ve only ever seen him at work. So, it’s hard to say.”

“Ryoken?”

“Yes?”

“Are you buying me jewellery right now?”

“Yes.”

Yuusaku stared at him.

“...do you want to go for a coffee?” Ryoken asked, trying for ‘casual’ and failing completely.

“I don’t-- won’t Kyoka mind?” Yuusaku was very confused. 

“Why would my sister mind?”

“ _ Oh. _ ”


	38. Another Compulsory Soulmate AU

Yuusaku stared at his palm, in complete shock.

The writing was back. 

“Oh, cool!” Takeru chirped from beside him, peering at his hand. “Your soulmate?”

Yuusaku nodded, pulling his palm up to his face to examine the marks more closely. Anything his soulmate wrote on their body would appear in the same place on Yuusaku’s, and vice versa. 

“Yuusaku? You okay?” 

“I thought they were dead.”

Takeru choked on his juice.

“What?!” He spluttered. 

“The last time I heard from them was… it was when we were still imprisoned. During the incident. They knew what was happening there. They’d write to me, telling me to stay strong. I couldn’t write back, obviously. I didn’t have a pen. But they still knew everything.” 

Takeru’s expression grew sour. “Oh. That’s… you must have thought…?”

“I thought maybe seven kids went missing, and six came out.” 

Takeru shuddered. 

“This is good though! This means they’re alive!” 

“Yeah… yeah. It does.” Yuusaku felt a small smile tug at his lips. 

“You should write something!” Takeru insisted, shoving a pen towards him. 

Yuusaku raised an eyebrow at him. “They’ve ignored my messages for years. I don’t think there’s much point.” 

“They’re not ignoring you now! C’mon, you know how tough the incident was and stuff. Maybe it’s just.. taken them a while. To figure out what they want. Yunno?” 

Yuusaku chewed his lip, but accepted the pen. He couldn’t figure out what the note on his hand was supposed to say. It looked like gibberish, so he had no idea how to respond.

‘Hi. Good to hear from you again. What does this say?’ 

He scrawled the note just below his soulmate’s, drawing an arrow to it. 

Then, suddenly, the marks from his soulmate were scrubbed out of existence. 

He and Takeru stared at the place where the marks had been, stupefied. 

“Oh. Uh. Sorry, man.” Takeru muttered, wincing. 

“...at least they’re not dead.” Yuusaku mumbled, rubbing his own message clean. 

* * *

‘Hello’

The message appeared in the dead of night. Yuusaku should have been sleeping, but he’d woken up that many times from his nightmares, he’d given up trying. It hadn’t been this bad in years, but hearing from his soulmate seemed to have triggered something. 

He stared at the message. Before it could disappear, he grabbed a pen from his bedside table. Sitting up and turning the lamp on, he quickly jotted a response.

‘Are you actually going to reply this time?’ 

The response was almost immediate.

‘I don’t think you want to know who I am.’

Yuusaku furrowed his brows.

‘Why wouldn’t I?’

‘Because it won’t change anything’

The messages were starting to crawl up his arm now. He rolled up his sleeve. 

‘1. You knew what was happening during the Lost Incident. 2. You cut off correspondence directly after the incident. 3. You are not dead or otherwise incapable of responding. Given at least two of the six lost children are hospitalised, a third is dead and a fourth was sat beside me when you messaged today, there is a total of 2 people you can be. You are Spectre, or you are Kogami Ryoken.’

There was no response.

‘If you were spectre, you probably would’ve told me. The tone and overall obnoxious nature of your messages are implying that you are Kogami Ryoken.’

‘Obnoxious? Excuse me?’

‘It is you, then? Text me like a normal person.’ 

‘You’re okay with this?’

‘Text me. My arm looks ridiculous.’

* * *

The next day, Yuusaku came to school with a picture of Borresword dragon on his cheek and heavy bags beneath his eyes. 

* * *


	39. Nightmare

Yuusaku awoke in the dead of night with a start. 

There was a banging on the door. It was heavy and persistent. Yuusaku swallowed.  Grabbing the baseball bat he kept by his bed, he moved slowly towards the door. Raising it at the ready, he swung the door open and--

“What the  fuck _?”  _ Ryoken raised an eyebrow at the weapon, folding his arms across his chest.

“I won’t take that from the guy banging on my door at 2am. Wearing his pyjamas.” 

Ryoken pulled his coat tighter around himself. He glanced away with what could only be described as a pout. 

“Yeah, okay. Well. Bye.”

He turned around, heading back out towards his car. 

“What?” Yuusaku yelled after him, stepping out to stare at the other man’s back.

Ryoken looked back over his shoulder. “What?” 

“Why did you just-- why did you come?” 

“I had a nightmare. You were drowning. I tried to get you out but you turned into a crab and bit me.” 

“...right?” 

Ryoken scratched his cheek. “I wanted to make sure you were okay. You were drowning.”

“Alright… well. I’m not drowning. And I haven't become a crab.” 

Ryoken nodded. “Good. See you later.” 

Yuusaku watched as his nemesis left, bewildered. 

“Just call me next time!” 


	40. drink?

“Yuusaku, don’t turn around, but that guy keeps staring at you.” Ryoken grumbled, taking another swig of his drink.

Yuusaku promptly turned around, searching for a pair of eyes. Ryoken sighed.

“I said _don’t turn around._ Now he knows we’re talking about him.”

“So?” Yuusaku turned back to Ryoken, taking his drink from him. 

Ryoken let him, picking up Yuusaku’s drink instead. “So, that’s awkward as fuck.” 

They were sitting at the bar, in Ryoken’s favorite club. Or rather, the only club he could bear to be in. 

“Some guy staring at me when I’m obviously with my boyfriend is _more_ awkward.” 

Ryoken raised an eyebrow at him. “In what way are you obviously with your boyfriend?” 

“You’re my boyfriend. And I’m with you.” His voice was flat.

“Yes, but so far tonight, you’ve spent more time dancing with Aoi than with me.” 

“Only because she forced me to. You don’t even like dancing.” 

“Yes, I know, I’m not complaining.” Ryoken rolled his eyes. “I’m just saying we don’t exactly seem like a couple to the untrained eye-- oh, for fuck’s sake, here he comes…” He grumbled. 

A young man came to a stop in front of them, smiling charmingly. “Hi.” 

Yuusaku squinted at him, then his eyes widened. 

“Listen, if you’re going to try and flirt with my boyfriend--” Ryoken started, but before he knew it, Yuusaku had grabbed onto his arm. Suddenly, they were running. 

“What?!” 

“That’s a cop! He knows I’m underage!” 

“You’re 21, you’re not underage!” 

“ _You’re_ 21, I’m 19!” 

“How does he even know?!” 

“He’s arrested us before!” 

“ _What_?” 

* * *

Aoi watched her friends run out of the club with confusion. Her phone chimed.

Yuusaku

00:17

_cops here, watch out_

Looking up from her phone, she saw Takeru being approached by a familiar figure.

Oh, man. Busted. 

* * *


	41. Compulsory Fake Relationship AU

Yuusaku stared at their joined hands. 

“Yes, we’ve been together for nearly a year.” Ryoken was saying, smiling at this random woman Yuusaku had never met. “We’re moving in together soon.” Oh? Someone really should’ve told him. 

The woman looked at him critically. “Oh.” She said. 

Yuusaku bristled. 

He laced his fingers together with Ryoken’s, squeezing his hand and leaning against his side. He didn’t know what was going on, but he disliked this woman enough to cooperate.

“Lovely to meet you.” He lied. 

She nodded her head, looking him up and down. “It’s an… interesting choice.” She sniffed. 

“With all due respect mother, I really don’t think someone with three broken marriages is in a position to judge my relationship decisions.” 

Yuusaku snickered. The woman - Ryoken’s mother, apparently - glared at her son indignantly. 

“Yes, well. Clearly I had a lucky escape with you father.” Ryoken stiffened, pursing his lips. His mother seemed entirely oblivious to the change in his demeanor though, continuing. “Anyway, I’d prefer to know you’re learning from my mistakes rather than repeating them. So, if you really are serious about,” she paused, giving Yuusaku another once-over, “this, then, well. You should both come for dinner, so I can get to know you a bit better.”

“Why learn about  _ me _ when you’ve never even bothered to learn about your son?” Yuusaku drawled lazily. 

Ryoken’s eyes flicked to him, surprise etched into his face. Yuusaku met his gaze for a moment, with a single raised eyebrow, before returning his attention to the mother-from-hell.

“I- how dare you.” She scoffed. “I know my son.” 

“Yeah? Is that why you just insulted Dr. Koga--” Yuusaku could’ve continued, but Ryoken squeezed his hand. He glanced at his not-boyfriend to see him subtly shake his head.

“If you’re serious, mother, and if it will put your mind at ease about my living situation, I will gladly accept your dinner invitation.” 

She nodded a little, pursing her lips as she glared at Yuusaku. She looked back to her son with softer eyes. “I’ll text you a time.” 

He nodded. 

Waving a hand, she turned around and walked back the way she came. 

Yuusaku stared after her, before turning slowly back to Ryoken. They were currently standing in front of the hotdog van, parked at Stardust Road. 

“What just happened?” Kusanagi asked, appearing from under the counter in the van. “Why did you make me hide?”

Ryoken sighed. “That was my mother.” He said. 

“Yeah.”

“We gathered.”

He pinched the bridge of his nose. “She wanted to set me up. The only way I could dissuade her was by telling her about the new long term relationship I was in. In my defense, the only new long term relationship I have made recently has been with Playmaker.”

“I’m not sure your mother had  _ rivalry _ in mind.” Yuusaku deadpanned. 

“Probably not.” 

“What now?” He sighed. “You offered to go for dinner.” 

“...I’ll pay you?” 

“Why not just accept her efforts? She just wants to stop you from dying lonely, right?” Kusanagi snickered. 

Ryoken glared at him. “I’d rather be alone than with anyone  _ she _ considers  _ suitable _ .”

“I’ll do it.” Yuusaku decided. “ ¥ 50,000 per appearance, fixed fee.”

“Deal.”


	42. Suited Up (more fake bf au)

“I hate this.” Yuusaku grumbled. 

Ryoken clicked his tongue, then looked at the store clerk. “We need something… less funeral, more dinner?” 

The woman glanced between them, clearly wondering how two kids barely at university could afford any of this, then nodded. “Certainly, sir.” She disappeared to go find more shirts, giving Ryoken the opportunity to glare at Yuusaku.

“Can you stop complaining about everything?” 

“When I agreed to this whole fake-boyfriend thing, I didn’t expect there to be out-of-hours work.” He muttered, turning to look in the mirror. The suit he was currently wearing cost more than his rent for a month. 

“I can’t take you to my mother’s dinner party wearing torn jeans and a cyberse wizard t-shirt.” 

“Why not?” 

Ryoken gave him a  _ look _ and Yuusaku sighed. 

"Do you want me to pay you for shopping time too? I can." 

Yuusaku shrugged. He was already charging an extortionate amount for the fake-boyfriend service, even if this rich boy was too monetarily inept to know it. Plus, he was getting all of these fancy suits for free.

"...it's fine. These will probably help me in interviews, anyway. So you’re kind of already paying.” 

“If you’re sure.” 

The store clerk came back with six more ensembles for him to try.

For a moment, Yuusaku thought maybe he  _ wasn’t  _ sure. 


	43. Moving (more fake bf au!! man i love this trope)

Yuusaku was awoken by the unrelenting ring of his mobile phone. 

Grabbing it off the side table, he squinted at the screen. 

'Ryo <3' 

He sighed. He'd been forced to change Kogami Ryoken's name to something more... boyfriend-y, after a certain incident nearly gave away their little charade. Yuusaku was currently masquerading as Ryoken's boyfriend, whenever his services were required, for a hefty fee. Checking the time, Yuusaku couldn't fathom what his not-boyfriend could possibly need from him _right now_. 

"'llo?" Yuusaku muttered sleepily down the line. 

“We have a problem.” Ryoken's voice crackled back at him. 

“Yes, we do. You’re calling me at 2am. That is  _ definitely  _ a problem.” 

“My mother just texted. She’s arriving at 9am. She booked the first train because she’s fallen out with her new boyfriend.” 

“Why is your mother’s love life supposed to be a problem for me?” Yuusaku yawned, watching the display on his digital clock change from 2:04 to 2:05. 

“She thinks we live together, remember?” 

Yuusaku blinked. “What? No? Why would she think that?” 

“Because I told her we live together.” 

“ _ Why _ did you tell her that?” Yuusaku could see where this conversation was going. Dutiful fake-boyfriend that he was, he scrambled out of bed and started throwing clothes into a bag. 

Ryoken sighed. “She never visits, I didn’t think it would be a problem. I told her right at the start that we were moving in together  _ soon _ so  _ of course  _ she kept asking if it had happened yet. I just said ‘yes’ one day, to shut her up.”

“How long is she staying?” Yuusaku asked, counting out pairs of underwear. 

“She didn’t say.”

He paused. “What do you mean she didn’t say?”

“I mean, you might have to stay here until I can politely kick her out.”

“Does it have to be polite? She’s not very polite.” He grumbled, giving up on the counting and just throwing every clean pair he had into the bag.

“...you don’t have to, you know. I can tell her we broke up or something.” 

Yuusaku paused, staring into the now-packed bag, and wondered why he hadn’t remembered that was an option.

“...1, if I do that, you’ll be back at square one with all of this. 2, you’re paying me more than any other part time job in the city for easier work. 3, you saved me once. I don’t mind returning the favor. My bag’s packed, I’ll be there in twenty minutes.” 

“I’ll pick you up. I--” Ryokan cleared his throat. “...thank you, Fujiki Yuusaku.” 


	44. The Drive (we always need more fake bf au)

Yuusaku tugged at his tie, then fiddled with his cufflinks. Cufflinks. Cuff-link. He wondered absently if that was a duel monster yet. 

They were on their way to Ryoken’s mother’s house. She wanted to meet her son’s partner formally, for dinner. The only problem of course, was that her son didn’t actually have a partner. All he really had was a deep-set desire to stop his mother from meddling in his life. Enter Yuusaku. Ryoken was happy to pay him extortionate amounts to keep up a convenient facade. 

Ryoken reached across from the driver’s seat to click his fingers in front of Yuusaku’s face.

“Yuusaku, are you listening?” He asked.

“You were talking?” 

Ryoken sighed.

“I was _saying_ , my mother will probably ask us where we met, things like that.”

“We don’t have to lie, do we? It’s not like us _meeting_ is fake, just the relationship part.”

As they waited at a red light, Ryoken glanced over to give him the most incredulous look. “Oh, sure. Let’s tell my mother we met when you tried to save your friends from my cyber terror plot. I’m sure that’ll go down well.” 

Yuusaku shrugged. “It’s not my fault if your mother doesn’t know who you are as a person.”

Ryoken sighed, moving off again as the lights turned green. 

“...you’re right. She hated my father, though. She didn’t even know that he was alive all those years, in the Vrains. She would never understand my motives for any of it.” Stopping at another red light. Ryoken ran a hand over his face. “What am I _doing_.”

“Wish you’d asked yourself that before the whole tower of hanoi thing…” Yuusaku muttered. 

Ryoken shot him a murderous glare.

“What? If you don’t think you can even explain yourself to your _mother_ , then you can’t have had that much faith in your goals. That’s all I’m saying.”

“She’s not really my mother though. Kyoka has been more of a maternal figure in my life than that woman.” Ryoken grumbled. “I think the fact I can’t fathom explaining Hanoi to her is more a testament to how decrepit our relationship is.”

“Then why are we doing any of this? Just cut her off.” 

“She cares about me enough to try. Without father around, I suppose… I care enough to try, too.” 

Yuusaku sighed. “How about a Vrains party.”

“...what?” 

“We could say we met at a Vrains party.” 

“That… could work.” 


	45. Dinner (fake bf au we're just gonna keep going with this)

“So, how did you meet?” Ryoken’s mother asked, smiling across the table at her son and his ‘boyfriend’. 

Yuusaku was not, actually, Ryoken’s boyfriend. Thankfully, this was one of the few questions the two were prepared for.

“Oh, it was a party, in the Vrains. Right, Yuu?”

Yuusaku nodded, as if recollecting a distant memory and not a story they’d concocted on the drive over here. “Yeah, the Blue Angel one, right?” Zaizen would definitely back them up if it came to it.

“Oh! Blue Angel, I’ve heard of her!” Ryoken’s mother cooed. “She's ever so cute. Terrible, all that business with those Hanoi people, though.”

“Oh, yes, absolutely terrible.” Yuusaku agreed, biting back a snicker. “That Revolver guy sure was a piece of work…”

Ryoken kicked him under the table. 

“I  _ know _ !” Ryoken’s mother tutted. “Thank goodness that Playmaker boy was around! And Inazuka Go! What a lovely man.” 

“Oh, yes. Wonderful man. We’ve met him, actually.” Yuusaku said, taking a sip of his water. 

“Really? Oh, Ryoken, you never said!” 

Ryoken smiled tightly, “I didn’t think you were interested in the Vrains…” 

There was a very clear tension between Ryoken and his mother. There had been all night. Perhaps this hadn't been the wisest conversation choice... 

“I’m not, but I am interested in  _ him _ !” She giggled.  “You boys shouldn’t spend so long in there, though, you know. What if villains like those Hanoi people come back?” 

“Mother, do you actually know  _ anything  _ about the Hanoi?” Ryoken snipped, clearly nearing the end of his patience. 

She blinked at her son, arching an eyebrow. “Of course I do. They stopped all those poor people from logging out.”

“Do you know why? Do you know who they were, or what they were fighting for?” 

This time, Yuusaku kicked Ryoken under the table. 

“What Revo-- Ryoken is trying to say, is, that, uh. No harm was done in the end, right? And I suppose we can’t just go off what the media outlets are saying, for all we know these Hanoi people just took the blame for a SOL problem, or something…” Yuusaku trailed off. He glanced at Ryoken to see him glaring at his mother. Yeah, his patience was thoroughly shot. 

Ms. Kogami furrowed her brows. “Well, I suppose… I don’t think you can avoid the fact that stealing people’s consciousness like that is  _ evil _ , though.” 

Ryoken pushed his plate away. 

“Thank you for the meal, mother. Yuusaku and I really should be leaving now, though.” 

“Oh? So soon?” She hopped to her feet. 

“No, of course not, we’ll help clear up first.” Yuusaku shot Ryoken a glare, which he pointedly returned.

“...it’s alright.” Ms Kogami said. “It’s okay, you boys get off. Yuusaku, you have class in the morning, right?”

“Yeah…” 

“Have a safe trip back.” She smiled after them. 

Ryoken was already half way out the door.

"...don't worry about him. He's a Revolver fanboy, but I'll get him to call you when we're home. Thank you for this evening." Yuusaku offered. 

"You're a lovely boy. I'm sorry if I seem... intense, or judgemental, I just... I want him to be happy." She said, smiling helplessly. 

Yuusaku smiled back, nodding. "Me too." He said, and for what may have been the first time, he wasn't lying to her. 


	46. Long drives (more fake bf au!!)

Yuusaku fiddled with the radio in the car. 

He wasn’t sure what to say. 

They were on their way home from one of the most awkward dinners Yuusaku had ever experienced. It had been a rollercoaster of an evening. Yuusaku was being paid a fair sum of money to pose as Ryoken's boyfriend so he'd wanted to do a decent job of it, but boy had this evening been out of his control. It started out awkward, since his mother clearly thought Yuusaku was too poor and too male for her son, but then got a little better towards the middle. She loosened up, she seemed to like him - and then they’d started talking about the Vrains. And Hanoi.

Yuusaku thought it would be funny. In his infinite wisdom, he thought starting a conversation about Revolver, with Revolver’s mother, who didn’t know she was Revolver’s mother and strongly decried the Knights of Hanoi, would be hilarious. 

Ryoken didn’t seem to agree. 

It didn't help that Ryoken was barely on speaking terms with his mother _anyway_.

Thus, the current frosty atmosphere in the car ride home. 

“...are you going to say anything?” Yuusaku attempted. 

Ryoken took a deep breath through his nose, and then out of his mouth.

“I’m not angry.” 

Yuusaku snorted.

Ryoken glared at him. “I’m not. Really. I just… my father understood.” 

“Understanding isn’t the same as agreeing, though. I understand what you did. I still don’t think it was right. If you explained it to her, she’d probably understand, even if she didn’t think it was right.” 

Ryoken mulled those words over for a moment, before releasing a heaving sigh. “It just doesn’t feel like we’re even related.”

“Why would it? You’ve lived completely separate lives, the only thing you have in common is blood. Blood doesn’t talk. Life does.” 

Ryoken made a quiet sound in agreement. “You make a lot of sense when you bother to open your mouth.” He commented. 

Yuusaku elbowed him.

The drive continued in silence. By the time Ryoken spoke again, Yuusaku had almost fallen asleep.

“Thank you.” He said.

“Hmm?”

“Thank you for doing this. And… for caring enough to actually…” he waved a hand in the air, rolling his wrist as he searched for the word, “discuss.” 

“Thank you for the ¥50,000.” 

Ryoken laughed. 

He pulled up beside Yuusaku’s apartment. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“See you tomorrow.” Yuusaku opened the door, sliding out of the car before pausing. He turned around, leaning back inside. “Can I say one thing that… might be me reading too much into the situation?”

“Sure.” Ryoken said. 

“If you’re only trying to reconnect with your mum because you think she can replace your dad, you need to stop.” 

Ryoken stared at him. 

“Oh, and I told her I’d get you to call her tonight. She wants to know you’re home safe, and given we didn’t help clear up I think a call is the least you can do. Goodnight.” Yuusaku said, shutting the door and heading into his apartment.

Ryoken stayed pulled up at the side of the road for longer than he perhaps should have. 


	47. Good morning (fake bf auuuu)

Yuusaku woke up in soft satin sheets, to the sound of someone singing Disney songs in the shower.

This was strange for three reasons. 

    1. He lived alone
    2. He didn’t know anyone with a voice that nice 
    3. He didn’t own bedsheets this nice 



Sitting up slowly, Yuusaku looked around the room.

Ah, yes. How had he forgotten. 

Ryoken was paying him to play boyfriend in front of his mother. His mother thought they lived together, and was coming to stay with Ryoken. So, as of 2am this morning, Yuusaku lived at the top of the hill on Stardust Road.

He glanced at the bedside clock and yawned. 

8am. 

Why the hell was Ryoken singing Disney songs in the shower at 8am? 

Yuusaku dragged himself out of bed, going into the kitchen as ‘How far we’ll go’ started up on the shower-speakers. Of all the Disney songs in the world, he was singing the one about  _ sailing _ . Typical. 

He set the rice cooker on and checked the fridge, but found it was practically empty. Great. How was he meant to make breakfast for them with four eggs and a fish? 

* * *

When Ryoken came out of the shower, he’d almost forgotten about the fact his not-boyfriend was living with him. That was, until he smelt home-cooked breakfast.

Coming over to the kitchen, Ryoken saw Yuusaku setting out grilled fish, tamago-yaki and rice in bowls on the table. Ryoken didn’t think he’d actually eaten at the table in  _ years. _

Yuusaku blinked at him owlishly as he approached, clearly still half asleep. 

“You don’t own cooking ingredients. I made what I could. Give me your credit card, I’m buying real food, Pot Noodle-san.”

“Never call me Pot Noodle-san again.” Ryoken threatened, but there was no heat in it as he sat down at the table. “This looks good. Thank you.” 

Yuusaku shrugged. “Credit card, and it’ll be better tomorrow.” 

Ryoken handed it over without a second’s thought. 


	48. dates&deadlines

Ryoken was watching him like a hawk.

Yuusaku could feel it, as he tapped away on his laptop insistently. He could feel that gaze assessing every movement he made.

They were supposed to be hanging out this evening - Ryoken had ordered pizza, and there was a new movie on Netflix they both wanted to see - but Yuusaku had a deadline he was really struggling to meet. He’d started the assignment as soon as it was released, but he just couldn’t seem to get anywhere with it. The deadline was tomorrow but he just couldn’t get the code to-- 

“Yuusaku?” Ryoken called, cutting through his mental spiral. 

“Yeah?”

“Are you okay?” He asked. 

“Yeah, why?” 

“You’re wearing two different shoes.”

Yuusaku looked down quickly to see- yes, he had apparently failed to dress himself properly before coming to his boyfriend’s house. Great. The way he was going, he’d fail the assignment  _ and _ get dumped--

A blanket fell over his shoulders. 

Yuusaku looked up to see Ryoken had made his way over to him, carrying snacks and his own laptop. 

He set down two cups of coffee, then sat on the chair beside him. 

“Send me the notes.” He said.

Yuusaku blinked at him “It’s okay, it’s my assignment, I won’t be long, I’ll just--”

“You work hard. If you’re struggling this much, something’s wrong with the damn thing. Send it to me. I aced this course last year, I can help.” 

Maybe he wasn’t getting dumped after all. 

He sent the files across, leaning against Ryoken’s side. Exhausted, he was asleep within the next ten minutes. 

* * *

Dear Professor Smith, 

I trust you’ve enjoyed your weekend. I am writing to inform you that there are three mistakes in your assignment for your freshman computing course, which make it impossible for the students to create code that will compile. Please see the attached pdf for details. 

I strongly recommend issuing an apology to the affected students. They have lost time, energy and sleep. If you fail to do this, I will not hesitate to escalate the matter further. 

Regards, 

Ryoken Kogami. 


	49. Dinner Party (fake bffff)

Yuusaku really didn’t know what he’d expected from this. It was Ryoken’s mother’s dinner party, which he was attending as Ryoken’s boyfriend in exchange for  ¥50,000.

This wasn’t the first time Ryoken had asked for his help. Last time, his mother had made them dinner and Yuusaku had left feeling like he and the mother-from-hell had managed to build some rapport. Watching her introduce Ryoken to yet another young rich woman, Yuusaku began to wonder if maybe he was wrong about that. 

“That’s so  _ funny _ !” The young woman laughed, flicking her hair. Ryoken glanced around the room, clearly trying to figure out where Yuusaku had gotten to. He’d only left the room for a moment, for some air, but clearly Ms. Kogami worked fast. 

Yuusaku took a deep breath, and reentered the fray. He slid into his place beside Ryoken easily, smiling at the woman.

“Hi.” He looked at Ryoken, “Aren’t you going to introduce us, honey?” 

Ryoken looked immensely relieved. He was holding two drinks, and handed one to Yuusaku. “Oh, my bad. Sara-san, this is Yuusaku, my other half.”

Other half? That was an upgrade. 

“Hi, Sara-san.” Yuusaku offered her a polite smile, “Lovely to meet you.” 

Her smile became tight. “Yeah, you too! Uh. Ryo and I--”

“Kogami-san.” Ryoken cut in.

“Hm?” Sara blinked at him.

“I’d prefer it if you called me Kogami-san.”

Yuusaku took a sip of his drink to disguise his snickering. 

“Oh. Sure. Sorry, I need to just-- hi, dear!” Sara said, waving at someone just over Yuusaku’s shoulder. She slipped past them. 

Yuusaku sighed, smiling dropping as he took a longer sip from his drink. 

“...how do you  _ do _ that?” Ryoken asked, turning to face him.

“What?” 

“It’s like you have a switch. You do it with my mother, too. You’re all polite and smiling and then the second they leave you just-- you  _ sigh _ and  _ drink _ .”

“Oh, that? It’s called experience in retail work.” 


	50. honey I'm home take 2 (after canon au)

A loud knock sounded against an expensive white door. 

Inside, Ryoken Kogami was startled awake. This was one of the few times in the year he’d decided to stay in his house rather than the boat. As much as he loved his knights, sometimes a guy just needed his own space. 

The knock came again, louder and more insistent. 

“Alright, coming!” Ryoken growled. It was 3am. Whoever this guest was, they certainly didn’t have any manners. Takeru, perhaps? Ever since Yuusaku disappeared, the man had been pestering him about checking for  _ clues  _ in the  _ network _ . The young man sighed at the mere thought. It was like Takeru thought this was some kind of hollywood flick where magical internet science would find their runaway hero. 

Hero. Not a word he ever thought he’d associate with his ex, but the guy did take out Ai. He pulled through for humanity when it really mattered. He fixed the mess that was, by inheritance, Ryoken’s to clean. 

Shaking his head free of those useless thoughts, Ryoken tied up his robe as he arrived at his front door. Looking through the peephole, all he could see was the bowed head of someone wearing a dark hoodie-- 

Wait. That was… an early 2000s special edition Rokket Revolt hoodie. 

The exact print which Ryoken had lost the night Yuusaku disappeared.

Before he could even consider the fact it might be a coincidence, that maybe he should call the police on his mysterious 3am visitor, Ryoken had swung the door open. 

The young man kept staring at his feet. The hoodie fell loosely around an unnaturally thin torso, and hands were stuffed into the front pockets. Even with that added warmth, there was the slightest hint of an unrelenting shiver running through him, like he couldn’t quite keep his teeth from chattering in the winter chill. 

“....Yuu?” Ryoken asked, quiet. 

The young man sighed, then finally lifted his head. His face was thinner and gaunter than it had been two months ago. Yuusaku Fujiki.

“You look like shit.” Ryoken stated simply. He stepped out of the doorway, letting Yuusaku barrel inside. 

“Where’s your food?” The boy grumbled, moving into the kitchen and opening cupboard after cupboard. 

“Here.” Ryoken held his phone up.

Yuusaku pulled a single tub of pot noodles out of the last of the cupboards, shooting the other man a condescending look. 

“Really? Of course the rich boy  _ still _ can’t cook…” 

Ryoken scoffed, dialling the number for an all-night Italian he remembered Yuusaku praising. “I won’t take that from you. Don’t think I’ve forgotten how you nearly burnt down my boat with  _ your  _ sorry excuse for--”

“It is not my fault that boat kitchens are so  _ weird _ .” 

“There is nothing weir-- Hi, yes, I’d like to place an order?” He turned around pointedly, talking into the phone. 

Yuusaku moved over to the sofas with the ghost of a smile on his lips. He fell into one of the piles of cushions, sighing with quiet relief. He wouldn't ever say it out loud, but even just the smell of this place gave him a sense of… warmth, comfort, and safety. He grabbed the blanket off the back of the far-too-expensive sofa and cocooned himself into it. 


	51. Stay (after canon au)

Fujiki Yuusaku had been missing for months. 

Ryoken can’t say he was surprised to see Yuusaku on his doorstep, in _his_ limited edition Rokket Revolt hoodie, at 3am. He let his ex in, and went about setting up the spare room for him.

When Ryoken got back, Yuusaku looked like he might’ve fallen asleep already. He was cocooned into the blankets from the back of the sofa, breathing deeply. Thankfully, months of dating had taught him Yuusaku’s techniques for avoiding difficult conversations.

“I know you’re awake.” Ryoken lifted a foot to nudge the Yuusaku-coccon lightly. “Come on.”

No response.

“I can believe that you’re cold, and tired, and you don’t want to talk. I can’t believe you’re actually asleep, though.”

Still nothing. Another nudge with his foot. 

“At least just tell me what you're thinking. Can I call Kusanagi?” 

“No.” His eyes stayed close, but the lines of his face scrunched into something.. tense. 

“Why not?” Yuusaku… come on, talk to me.” 

Back to silence.

“Fine." He sighed, "I won’t ask any why-questions. I won’t even ask where you’ve been. Just tell me what you need. When did you last eat? Do you have clothes, do you need me to wash your clothes, do you need a shower?” 

Yuusaku cracked an eye open, glancing at Ryoken’s face. 

“You’re just… worried? Not mad?”

“There are only 100 of those Rokket Revolt hoodies in existence, it cost me nearly 100,000 yen. I'm glad to have it back.”

Yuusaku snorted. “It’s not even that warm, I should’ve taken the Charmander one…”

Ryoken took a seat by his ex’s feet. “Or maybe just hid here while you had your breakdown instead of, what, sleeping rough?” 

Yuusaku sighed, “I thought you weren’t going to ask where I’ve been.” 

“I didn’t ask.” Yuusaku shot him a pointed look, one eyebrow arched. “...sorry.” 

“My breakdown isn’t finished. I just ran out of money.” Yuusaku mumbled. 

Ryoken nodded. “I’m guessing it’s ‘yes to all of the above’, then? Re: food, shower, clean clothes…?”

Yuusaku nodded, “...if you’re offering… my bag’s just outside your door.” 

Ryoken rose to his feet. “There’s cash in my wallet, if the pizza arrives. Let me find you some clothes and run you a bath.” 

“I… thanks.” 

Ryoken just grunted his acknowledgement. Thank yous and your welcomes and pleases and pleasantries like that just weren't… very _them_. 

“I’m staying. For a while. Here.”

Ryoken nodded, “Sure. I won’t tell anyone.”

Yuusaku sunk back into the blankets. 

He opened the door and grabbed the small bag Yuusaku had left outside. There were very few clothes inside, with most the space taken up by his laptop and dueldisk. Ryoken couldn't help the sigh that fell from his lips. This was no way to live. Idiot. He loaded the washing machine with the meager bundle and set it running, apologising internally to the climate for the wastefulness of it.

By the time he was done, Yuusaku seemed to have actually fallen asleep. 


	52. absolutely not, officer (after canon au)

Hiding your ex in your spare bedroom was never a good idea. Especially when you and your ex happened to have previously been mortal enemies, and most of the world thinks your ex is a missing person. 

"You're sure you haven't seen him, Mr. Kogami?" The officer at his door asked again, an eyebrow raised. "Only we have a witness statement suggesting someone of his description made their way up this hill last night."

"I don't know what to tell you, officer. Perhaps he came to enjoy the view, and left again?" Thankfully, Ryoken was a very good liar. 

"Yuusaku and yourself have had… disagreements, in the past, haven't you?"

"One or two." How did they even know about the  _ disagreements?  _ Takeru? No, he wouldn't. Kusanagi? 

"But you'd definitely tell us, if you saw him?"

"Are you asking me whether or not I would hypothetically pervert the course of justice?" Ryoken feigned incredulity, letting his eyebrows shoot up into his hairline. 

The officer pursed his lips. "We'll be in touch." 

He shut the door.

"They think I'm a murderer." He said to his very unwelcome guest. 

Yuusaku slinked out of the spare room, going over to the sofas. "You kind of are. Tower of Hanoi, remember? And mind viruses, you did that too. Oh and-"

"Oh shut up…" Ryoken grumbled, joining Yuusaku on his too-large sofa. "Who told them we had disagreements?"

Yuusaku shrugged, "They might not have meant playmaker and revolver, you know. You told them about  _ us _ , they might've just meant the whole breakup thing." 

“Yeah, maybe.”

“Are we still broken up?” Yuusaku asked, glancing over at him. 

Ryoken shrugged, “No? No, I think we’re together again.” 

Yuusaku nodded, “Cool.” 


	53. elephants (after canon au)

“Then why did you leave?” 

The elephant in the room was  _ finally  _ being addressed. 

Yuusaku shot him a withering glare, "I left to  _ find my friend _ and I did ask you to come with me."

"You left to resurrect an AI that was in love with you." 

" _ Loved  _ me, not  _ in love _ . Fuck, don’t make me regret telling you that…" He sighed. "I wanted you to come with me." 

"To help you bring back the curse that my father inflicted on this world.” Yuusaku pursed his lips, glancing away. “It doesn't matter. We disagree about the morality of those… things. Your ill-advised  _ quest _ was more important than our relationship though, that's the bottom line." 

Yuusaku just huffed, sinking into the sofa. "Do you want me to leave?" 

"...no. No, of course not." Ryoken released a breath he didn't know he'd been holding. "I… I'm glad you're okay, and safe. I wish you'd stayed, of course I do. But I think I can understand why you left and I-- I'm glad you're back and…I’m glad we’re back together, too, I--" Ryoken sighed, rubbing his face. “You know I’m not good at this.” 

“...I missed you too.” Yuusaku muttered. “I’m never saying that again, though.”

Ryoken chuckled, the tension seeping free from his shoulders. 


	54. not again, officer (after canon au)

Ryoken was very glad to have Yuusaku back in his life. The months where he’d been missing were horrifically stressful.

"You do matter, stop being so dramatic-" Yuusaku groaned. 

"I am never  _ dramatic- _ "

"You disappeared for, like, a month then literally crashed into the vrains with a new outfit and  _ fire _ ! Oh, and let's not forget-"

"Okay, god, fine! Maybe I'm a little dramatic sometimes!" -Yuusaku rolled his eyes- "But not about this. You didn't care how I would feel." 

Ryoken was glad to have him back, but Yuusaku really didn’t seem to have grasped how terrible those few months had been.

"I could say the same back to you!"

"On what planet!?"

"This one! You know more about the ignis algorithm than I  _ ever _ did, I  _ needed  _ you!" 

Silence stretched between them for a long, long moment. 

...perhaps he had also failed to understand how terrible those few months had been. 

"I needed you." Yuusaku eventually continued, when it was clear his boyfriend wasn't about to speak. "I knew you hated the ignis as they were but I thought, I thought maybe… maybe together we could create them in such a way that they wouldn't lead to our destruction. If we brought back just the five of them, without the light ignis, maybe? Something like that… if anyone could make it work, we could. But no. You flat out refused, I understand why, I do, but in that moment it just felt like you didn't  _ care _ \- so I had to leave and do it alone.”

“...I’m sorry.”

A knock at the door startled them both. 

Yuusaku quickly hopped to his feet, jogging to the spare bedroom, and Ryoken made for the front door. The peephole revealed the same officer from a few days ago. Yuusaku was still a missing person. Fuck.

Plastering his most genial smile onto his face, Ryoken opened the door. 

"Officer! Hello again…"

"You have CCTV." The officer stated flatly. 

"That's… correct, I do." 

"This week’s footage? Only, as I mentioned, there’s a witness who believes they saw Mr. Fujiki-"

"I'm afraid I turn them off when I'm home. I only use them when I'm away, on the boat." He lied.

"Right. Fine. Who's your guest, Mr Kogami?" 

Ryoken blinked, "Excuse me?"

"I heard two voices just now. Before I knocked."

"Oh… perhaps you heard the television?"

The officer looked over his shoulder, to the blank TV screen. He looked back at Ryoken, raising an eyebrow. 

"I turned it off to answer the door." 

"Mmhmm. Television needs a pair of size 5 shoes, too?" The officer drawled, nodding to Yuusaku’s sneakers sitting innocently in his genkan. They were clearly a size or two smaller than the rest of the shoes there. Fuck. 

"Those are… Yuusaku’s. But they've been here since before he vanished. He just… never took them with him when we broke up." 

"That was the night he went missing, right?"

"Yes…"

"But you'd been on fairly bad terms before that?"

"I already told you all of this." 

"I'm just corroborating."

Ryoken bit back a sarcastic retort. "Yes. We had practically broken up the week prior, when we had an argument about a friend he'd made. I thought the guy was a creep. That night, Yuusaku made it official, though." 

"Okay… if you do happen to discover that the CCTV was on, please let us know." 

"Of course, officer." 

Ryoken shut the door again. 

Yuusaku stuck his head out from the spare room, where all his worldly belongings were currently stored. 

"...everything okay?"

"I should march you down to the station right now." Ryoken grumbled. Yuusaku chuckled. 


	55. Hairpin (fake bf auuu)

“Here, wear this.” Ryoken said, tossing a small black box at him. 

Yuusaku caught it, setting it down on the dresser while he finished with his tie. This whole pretend-dating-a-rich-guy thing had really been a learning curve - he didn’t even know more than one kind of tie knot existed before. Now he was tying an _edelgard._

“What is it?” He asked.

“Hairpin.” 

Yuusaku opened the little box, blinking at the golden hair slide. “What…?” 

“Your hair is a perpetual mess.” 

“You think one hair slide is going to fix that?”

“No, but we can make it look intentional at least.” Ryoken came over, squinting at him. He took the hairpin and pushed back the pink tufts on the side of Yuusaku’s head, pinning them down.

Yuusaku looked into the mirror, turning his head from side to side. 

“How expensive was this? It’s just going to fall out. We’ll lose it.” 

Ryoken shrugged, “It’s worth a try.”

“1000 yen says we have ten minutes max.”

“I can’t take money from you, 1000 yen is like, 50% of your income.” 

Yuusaku snorted, “Fine, I get 1000 yen if I win, you get… uh…” 

“Something redeemable at a later date.”

Yuusaku eyed him warily.

“...fine. You’re not going to win anyway.” 

* * *

Three weeks later, Ryoken still hadn’t redeemed his victory. 

Yuusaku was starting to think that the constant threat _was_ Ryoken’s prize. 

* * *


	56. otherwise engaged (fake bf auuu)

Yuusaku was starting to understand why Ryoken had gone to such extreme lengths. He  _ had  _ thought paying for a fake boyfriend to trick his mother was a bit much _ , _ but now? 

“I’m just saying, being alone is no way to live! Honestly, if this works out for you, I’ll be pleased. I’m  _ just  _ saying, you’re not getting any younger, and the girls I’d like to introduce you to are ready for  _ real _ commitment.” 

Yuusaku was lingering in the bedroom, listening to the conversation happening in the kitchen. This woman was all sweetness-and-light in front of him, so what was this about? 

“Yuusaku and I live together. What part of that contradicts your idea of ‘commitment’?” 

She was right, obviously, since the whole thing was a farce. But  _ she  _ had no reason to believe it was a farce. There was no way she’d figured it out, so why was she still trying to set him up? 

“Well, there’s no ring, is there?” She said simply, sniffing. 

“Actually, we  _ are _ engaged.” Ryoken said. 

Yuusaku nearly choked on the air. He briefly wondered if the butter knife was sharp enough to commit murder with. 

In the moment’s silence following his declaration, regret swept over Ryoken’s face like a tidal wave.

“What?” His mother choked out. “Since when? Why didn’t you  _ say _ ?” 

“I- I didn’t want you interfering.” Ryoken said quickly, looking away from his mother. He briefly caught Yuusaku’s gaze, through the ajar bedroom door. The change in his expression was subtle, but Yuusaku recognised the I’m-panicking face. 

With a heaving sigh, Yuusaku got to work. He moved around the room swiftly, throwing on a dressing gown and grabbing one Ryoken’s many rings. He wondered out of the bedroom, ring on his finger and yawning as if he’d just woken up. 

“Oh, good morning Ms. Kogami.” He said, pretending he didn’t notice the way their conversation came to an abrupt halt.

“Good morning, dear.” She smiled tightly. 

Yuusaku looked between Ryoken and his mother, “...is everything alright?” 

“I told her.” Ryoken said.

Yuusaku blinked, then smiled. “Oh, good. I’m glad.” He pulled his hand out of his pocket, the blue stone on the ring glinted in the light. “It was all a bit  _ spontaneous _ but we’re going ring shopping today.” 

While Ryoken’s mother was distracted by the ring, Yuusaku glanced at Ryoken, who’s eyes seemed to have widened. He gave Yuusaku a look that screamed ‘panic’ even louder than his previous one.

“This is… your grandmother’s.” Ms Kogami said.

Oh. Woops.

“Y-yes…” Ryoken murmured. He cleared his throat, looking to the side. “I didn’t-- like Yuusaku said, we’re going shopping today. I just wanted something meaningful in the moment, I won’t-- I know that this isn’t--” 

“I think it’s wonderful.” His mother interrupted softly. She looked away, clearing her throat. “But of course, she left it to  _ you _ , so, well. You do whatever you like, sweetie.”

Ryoken nodded stupidly. 

“I have a few errands to run in town this morning. I could meet you later for ring shopping?” 

Yuusaku nodded. 

“Okay. Well. See you later, then!” 

Ms Kogami left, and the resulting silence was deafening. 

“Sorry?” Yuusaku mumbled, gently tugging the ring from his finger to offer it back to its rightful owner. 

Ryoken shook his head. “You thought on your feet and did what you could. Thanks. I… you should keep that on, if you’re meeting her later.” 

“Right.” 

“I can meet you around lunch?” 

“Are you actually buying me a ring now?” Yuusaku raised an eyebrow, slipping the ring back on his finger. 

Ryoken shrugged, “I guess so. You can just sell it or something later.” 

Yuusaku tried to ignore how that idea didn’t sit right with him. 


	57. Decor (fake bf auuuuuu)

It was scary how quickly Yuusaku had adjusted to his new life. He was currently moving around the kitchen in a house he didn’t live in, wearing an engagement ring representing a relationship that didn’t exist and chattering away happily to a woman who thought she was about to be his mother-in-law.

“You _definitely_ need to keep an eye on that, he’s horrible for it.” She was saying, talking about decorations for the wedding which was never going to happen. 

“I know what you mean. _Guns_ is not an actual aesthetic.”

“Thank you! Have you thought about it much?” She asked nonchalantly, still flipping through the wedding decor book she’d picked up while in town. She was sitting at the kitchen island, her chin perched delicately in her palm. 

“About what?” Yuusaku asked, starting on the onion. This was the worst part of any meal he made. 

“What you’d like, aesthetically, of course.”

“Oh, absolutely.” Absolutely not, more like.

“And?” 

“And… I think it has to be a joint decision.” He said. “Ryo’s always cared more about this kind of thing. He’s the one with the designer wardrobe, I’d be happy in a pair of jeans and a binbag.” 

She laughed, which confused him, since he wasn’t joking. 

“I’m home!” Ryoken called as he slipped into the house. 

Thank the heavens.

“Welcome back! Your mother was just asking me about wedding decor!” Yuusaku called. He caught Ryoken’s gaze for a moment, sending him a smile that screamed ‘save me’.

“Oh, wonderful. I think bullet casings would be--”

“ _No!”_ both Ms Kogami and Yuusaku exasperated. 


	58. lag

Revolver leaned over the side of the building and  _ laughed _ . 

“This is not funny.” Playmaker grumbled. 

Revolver opened his menu to find the camera function, snapping a few pictures. 

Playmaker sighed.

He was currently sticking out of the side of the building, while his avatar attempted to walk. He had detached his D-board at the exact moment the collision conditional code was triggered, which meant he was now stuck. He couldn’t open his menu, because he was supposed to be colliding with a wall, but he wasn’t colliding with the wall because he wasn’t on his D board. 

Revolver took another few pictures.

“Just log out.” He snickered. 

“I need the  _ menu _ for that.”

“I’d call the technicians to help, but aren’t you actually wanted by SOL right now?”

“When have I  _ not _ been wanted by SOL. You’re wanted too, anyway, you can’t call them. You’re better than anyone they employ anyway, you get me out.”

“Hmm.”

“What do you mean  _ hmm _ ?” 

“I’m weighing up my options.” 

“Your  _ options _ are get me out and keep your boyfriend, or leave me here and get dumped.” 

* * *

Far below, ghost girl watched with amusement. She messaged Kusanagi. 

‘You going to get him out of that?’ 

‘Nah. I don’t interfere where the gun kid’s involved’ 

* * *


	59. Music to my ears (busker au!)

Yuusaku loved busking. He spent most of his afternoons on the streets in the city, beside his friend Kusanagi’s hot dog van, playing music. 

Kusanagi leaned across the counter, catching Yuusaku’s gaze. 

He nodded his head to the side before saying, “He’s back.”

Yuusaku subtly scanned the crowd, looking for the elusive ‘pretty hot kid your age’ Kusanagi kept talking about. Apparently, this guy would just sit in the square whenever Yuusaku was playing. 

For the first time since Kusanagi mentioned it, Yuusaku’s eyes fell on a young man with white hair. His blue eyes were trained intently on Yuusaku, but the second he was noticed, the man looked away quickly. He very obviously searched for something else to look at, failed, and then stared at his shoes.

Huh. 

Yuusaku looked back at Kusanagi, who was grinning. He wiggled his eyebrows suggestively. Yuusaku rolled his eyes.

When had Kusanagi figured out his type? 


	60. (Heart)strings (more busker au!)

“What are you gonna do?” Kusanagi sighed.

Yuusaku loved busking. He was a completely self-taught guitarist, and the streets were his testing grounds for all his new music. Looking at the broken string on his guitar, he sighed. 

“I don’t know… I can’t afford to replace it right now, it’ll have to wait until the end of the month.” Yuusaku chewed his lip, turning it over in his hands. 

“Sit down, kid, I’ll get you a coffee.” Kusanagi offered sympathetically. 

With a final heaving sigh, Yuusaku set the guitar down on the table and took a seat. “Thanks.”

* * *

When Yuusaku came down to the hot dog van a couple of days later, he was greeted by an unusual sight. 

The small table in front of Kusanagi’s hot dog van was occupied, but not by a person. 

As he approached, he called out to Kusanagi. 

“What is all this?”

Kusanagi turned around, coming over to the hatch in the van. 

“It was the guy!” He grinned, “I  _ told  _ you he liked you!” 

The mysterious white-haired man who apparently came all the way into the city  _ just  _ to watch Yuusaku play. 

Yuusaku picked up the various sets of strings laid across the table. There was a whole range of gauges and materials, from some of the best brands on the market. Then, his eyes fell on something just behind them.

Picks. A tonne of different picks. Yuusaku glanced at his fingers, calloused and cut from playing out in the cold, and then back at Kusanagi.

“He brought all of this over?”

Kusanagi nodded, barely containing his glee. “He asked why you hadn’t been playing recently, and I told him.” 

“And he just…” Yuusaku waved indicatively at the table.

“Yup.” 

Huh. Maybe the guy  _ did _ like him. He’d have to start up a conversation next time.


	61. Pianoman (more busker au!!)

After a long day out busking, Yuusaku was tired. It was a good kind of tired - he loved what he did - but he was tired nonetheless. It had been a few days since he saw his guest, too; the elusive young man with white hair and blue eyes who seemingly came into the city just to watch him play. 

So, when Takeru suggested they try out the fancy restaurant that had opened down the road from them, his instant reaction had of course been ‘absolutely not tonight’. 

“But Aoi has freebies tonight! Apparently her brother helped set up their cashless payment system, so she and her friends get a free meal. It’s only for tonight though!” 

Yuusaku chewed his lip. Free fancy food? He could probably pack the leftovers for lunch, too. 

“...fine.” 

* * *

Yuusaku did not have appropriate clothing for this place, but thankfully neither did any of his friends. Aoi was in a nice blue dress, and Takeru had put a collared shirt on. Yuusaku had also managed to dig out a clean collared shirt, but he might as well have come in a t-shirt; everyone else was in suits and cocktail dresses. 

At least the staff didn’t seem to care how they looked. Aoi gave her name, and they were quickly escorted to a nice table by the stage. 

A stage, upon which a pianist was currently playing a large white grand piano.

A pianist who looked very familiar indeed.

“That’s the guy.” Yuusaku said to his friends, dumbfounded. 

His friends glanced at him, then at the stage. 

“The one who keeps coming to see you in town?” Takeru asked quietly. 

Yuusaku nodded. 

Takeru grinned broadly, before waving to flag down a server. 

“Takeru, what are you--” Yusaku hissed, but he was interrupted as the waitress appeared in front of them.

“I’m really sorry, but can I borrow your pen for a sec?”

“Um… certainly, sir. Do you need paper, too?” 

“Yeah!” Takeru grinned. She handed them over. 

“Takeru, no.” Yuusaku said, seeing where this was going. Takeru was scrawling something that looked an awful lot like a phone number.

“Takeru, yes.” He glanced up, grinning. “What’s the worst that can happen?” 

Yuusaku dropped his face in his hands, recognising when the Takeru-train was on a path of intended goodwill which could not be stopped. 

He handed the book and pen back to the server, offering her a grateful smile. 

Once she was out of sight, he slipped out of his seat and to the stage, where the white haired man had just finished his piece. 

Takeru scrunched up the paper, and lobbed it at the guy’s face. 

Aoi choked on her water. Yuusaku groaned. 

To his credit, the man seemed stunned for barely a moment before regaining his composure. He glanced to see where it had come from and quickly spotted Takeru. He arched an eyebrow, to which Takeru responded by pointing at Yuusaku. 

Their eyes locked. Yuusaku’s mind went entirely blank. He raised a hand, giving a small, stupid wave. 

The white haired man responded in kind. His wave was equally small, and equally dumb-looking. 

Aoi snickered into her glass. 

Takeru jogged back to their table, grinning, as the man opened up the note. 

He looked between the message and Yuusaku, then smiled. 

* * *

_ Hi piano player dude!  _

_ You come watch my friend busk all the time and he’s totally into you  _

_ You should call him cause i think you’re into him too  _

_ 080-9823-9458 _

_ p.s. You should definitely play wonderwall, he  _ ~~_ hates _ ~~ _ loves it  _


	62. Overdue

It was him again. 

This guy seemed out to get him at every turn. 

Ryoken stared at the library records which he’d hacked into to see that, one Fujiki Yuusaku had  _ once again _ taken out the book he needed. 

This made seven.

Seven overdue children’s books. 

What was he  _ doing _ with them?! 

Ryoken was studying the linguistic development of children, and its connection to their ability to think critically and their freedom of expression. It was supposed to round off with thoughts on how AI could develop free expression, and he was very excited about the project. 

Unfortunately, these books were essential to finishing off his paper. 

“I’m going to  _ find you _ , Fujiki Yuusaku.” He vowed. 

* * *

Hacking into personal accounts on the university system had not been easy, but at long last he had achieved his goal. Fujiki Yuusaku lived barely a stone’s throw away. 

Yes, he was aware that this was incredibly creepy. However, his paper was due  _ tomorrow  _ and this  _ asshole  _ was overdue on  _ all of the books _ , so he felt justified. 

Strolling up to Fujiki’s door, he knocked. 

“Coming!” Came the call from inside. 

After a delay befitting of a man that was capable of holding seven overdue library books, the door was finally opened. 

This was not what Ryoken expected. 

A young man, probably a year or two younger than him, had answered the door. He was carrying a small child on his hip - maybe five or six? - who was sleeping against his shoulder. 

Rocking back and forth, probably to keep the kid sleeping, the man asked. “Hi. Can I help you?” 

Ryoken could see the books, behind Yuusaku. They were open, clearly having just been read to the child in his arms. 

Ryoken sighed. “...wrong address, I think.” 

“Oh. Okay. Have a nice night.” 

“You too.” 

* * *

When Ryoken returned home that evening, he paid all of Yuusaku’s fines and ordered new copies of the books to his address.

* * *


	63. Camping

Ryoken knew camping had been a terrible idea. 

The day had been disaster after disaster, with Ryoken knowing virtually  _ nothing  _ about camping. 

Yuusaku was pretty clued up, and took care of most things, but Ryoken hated feeling useless.

Now, it must’ve have been nearly 1am, and Ryoken could hear something outside their tent. 

The cherry on the cake, really. 

He didn’t want to wake Yuusaku up, not after all the work he’d already done today. He also didn’t want to go out there alone - he did not know what the tells were for dangerous wildlife, he needed Yuusaku’s expertise. 

The sounds came again and Ryoken swallowed. 

He shuffled closer to Yuusaku, trying to gauge whether or not his boyfriend was already awake. That would be fine, right? If he was awake anyway? 

“Yuu…? Are you awake?” He murmured. 

“... I am now.” Yuusaku sighed. “What is it, Ryo?” 

Relieved, Ryoken shuffled closer. “There’s something outside.”

“Yes dear, we are camping, so there will be things outside.” 

“But I mean  _ right outside _ .” Ryoken hissed urgently. 

“...would you like me to go check it out?” 

Ryoken swallowed. “...no… it’s okay…” 

Yuusaku sighed, sitting up. 

“...thanks.” 

Yuusaku grunted in acknowledgement, before heading over to the tent flap. He threw it open and--

“BOO!” Takeru.

“AHH!” Yuusaku. 

“ _ OW!”  _ And, Takeru had been punched in the face. 

He was down for the count.

“...woops.” Yuusaku scratched the back of his head. 

Laughing so hard he could barely breathe, Ryoken thought perhaps the camping hadn’t been such a bad idea after all. 


	64. firefighting

“ _ Jump _ !” Ryoken yelled, staring up at the guy still on the second floor.

The fire had hit quickly, rising up the dormitory like a storm.

“I-- I can’t just--” The kid coughed. The smoke must’ve already been filling up his room.

“You  _ can _ , trust me, I’ll catch you!” 

The look in his eyes said he didn’t trust  _ anyone _ , let alone this stranger telling him to jump from a second story window.

“Listen to me! 1 - you’ll die if you stay in there, by the time the firefighters arrive that room might’ve collapsed! 2 - if you jump, the worst that can happen is a broken limb! 3 - I  _ will _ catch you!”

The guy chewed his lip, before climbing onto the pane. 

Ryoken held his arms open, just as he another explosion racked through the building. The force of it pushed the kid out of the window without him having to jump. He yelled, screwing his eyes shut. 

Ryoken took a few step back, before diving to catch him and roll across the floor, in an attempt to spread the momentum of the fall. 

It seemed to work out well for the kid, who was panting but no longer screaming.

“Yuusaku.” The kid said. “I’m Yuusaku.”

“Concussed.” Ryoken murmured. “I think I’m… concussed.” 

* * *

When he woke in the hospital, there was a note with his belongings. A phone number, with the words ‘Yuusaku. Call me.’ 


	65. Fish

The young boy wandered aimlessly through the aquarium, alone. Ryoken spotted him, but tried to ignore it. He wasn’t great with kids, really. 

His ignore-it-and-it-will-go-away plan failed when the kid tugged at his jacket. 

“Hey, mister?” He said.

“...yes, child?” Ryoken answered, looking down at the kid.

“Will you help me find my brother?” 

Ryoken sighed. 

“...sure, kid.” 

* * *

Yuusaku had been through every exhibit three times and he  _ still _ couldn’t find Ai.

It had been a nightmare keeping social services off his back. He didn’t have a lot of money, he was young, and he had virtually no support. But Ai was his brother, and quite possibly the only living relative he had left. 

If they got wind of this, they’d take him.

Yuusaku felt the panic bubble in his chest but fought it off. Deep breaths. It’ll be okay. It’s a crowded, public place, with CCTV. People lose sight of their kids all the time, and there are staff around to help, and--

A white haired man was wondering through the exhibit, on the other side of the hall. He was holding hands with a young boy, Ai’s height-- 

Yuusaku was running across the room before he knew it, dodging through people until he reached the stranger. 

“Yuusaku!” Ai called brightly, spotting his brother dashing over.

The stranger glanced over, just in time to take a punch to the jaw. 

Ai gasped. The man just looked utterly stunned. His head had turned to the side from the impact. He’d almost definitely be sporting a nasty bruise tomorrow. 

Yuusaku grabbed Ai quickly, picking him up. Before Yuusaku could call the police or security or  _ someone  _ on this weirdo, Ai spoke.

“The nice man was helping me find you!” 

Yuusaku choked on his words. “W-what..?” He asked. 

Ai nodded. “I spent too long with the sharks, and I didn’t realise you went, and then I saw the nice man! He had a duel disk and you said duellists are your friends so I thought I’d ask him to help and he did.” He rambled. 

Yuusaku glanced down to see the man did indeed have a duel disk on his wrist.

“... I am so, so sorry.” Yuusaku bit back a laugh. It was entirely inappropriate, he definitely shouldn’t laugh. “I-- thank you. For helping him.” 

“I  _ hate  _ kids.” The stranger grumbled, rubbing at his jaw. “Whatever. Have a nice day.” The stranger turned to head back the way he’d come. 

“Coffee?” Yuusaku blurted. 

He turned back around, raising an eyebrow. 

“I can at least get you coffee.” 

* * *

Three years later, Kogami Ryoken and Fujiki Yuusaku discovered that Ai had not been lost at all. He took full credit for setting them up. 

* * *

  
  



	66. shipwrecked

“I think he’s dead.” One voice said. 

“He’s not dead.” Another insisted. 

“He’s not moving.” The first voice. 

“He’s got a pulse though.” The second voice. 

Kogami Ryoken somehow found the strength to open his eyes, and was met with familiar bright green ones staring right back at him. 

Abruptly, the green ones moved away. 

“I was wondering why you weren’t in the Vrains.” Fujiki Yuusaku said. “You crashed your boat?” 

Ryoken sat up, shaking his head to try and clear it of the throbbing.

“I… I don’t remember.” 

“You don’t remember…?” 

Ryoken shook his head. 

“I think I was trying out something new… it wasn’t my boat. The others are all on the main boat. I was on… a different boat? There were… crabs. And fish. A lot of fish. And then I don’t remember anything.” 

Emma and Yuusaku exchanged a look, before Emma pulled out her phone. While she made a call, Yuusaku crouched beside him.

“We think you hit your head, Revo. I’ll stay with you until you’re feeling better.”

“Somehow I don’t think I will ever feel better if you’re hovering around me, Playmaker.” Ryoken murmured. 

“Rude.” Yuusaku kicked him in the shin. 

Emma reappeared, “The doctor’s gonna make a home visit at yours, rich boy.” 

“I’ll take him back. I don’t mind staying with him.”

“I don’t want Playmaker to stay with me.” Ryoken grumbled. 

Emma nodded, “If you’re sure, Yuusaku.”

“Are you ignoring me?” Ryoken looked between them indignantly. 

“You need someone, and everyone you know is currently on a boat somewhere, which you apparently ditched for another, less stable boat filled with fish and crabs.” Yuusaku drawled. “I’m failing to see how you have much choice here.” 

* * *

Ryoken was feeling much better within a few days and the Hanoi were back at the end of the week. However, no one questioned the fact that Yuusaku was still living in the house atop Stardust Road months later. 


	67. lost in translation

“Oh, yes, he’s wonderfully handsome. Amazingly intelligent, too. I don’t think I’ve ever met anyone nearly as impressive.” Ryoken said, entirely in French. Apparently, his private school education had stretched to cover multiple European languages. It was a far cry from the education Yuusaku had received.

He and Yuusaku were currently on a tour around the capital, so Ryoken was making small talk with their guide. 

“He is your boyfriend, yes?” 

“Yes.” Ryoken lied, without missing a beat. “Though this is the first real trip we’ve done together.” 

“It is a shame he doesn’t speak French.” The man tutted, glancing in Yuusaku’s direction. “I would love to hear what he says about you!”

“I would say Ryoken wasn’t my boyfriend, until about ten seconds ago.” Yuusaku said, in fluent French. 

Both men gaped at him.

“What? Just because I didn’t learn it in school, doesn’t mean I didn’t learn it.” 

“See?” Ryoken said, taking Yuusaku’s hand in his own. “He’s incredible.” 

  
  



	68. stargazing

Yuusaku lay on his back, staring at the sky. 

He loved stargazing, but he’d never really been able to afford the equipment. 

Apparently, tonight was a spectacularly rare celestial event. A ‘great conjunction’ they called it; Jupiter and Saturn, both visible. 

He was pretty sure he could see them right now. An incredibly bright dot, on the horizon. 

“Would you like to look…?” A voice asked, off to his right. 

Yuusaku propped himself up on his elbows, looking over in the direction the voice had come from. 

Kogami Ryoken - a.k.a Revolver - had a telescope set up on a picnic blanket. When had he arrived? He’d been AWOL since the Tower of Hanoi incident, so this certainly was a surprise. 

“Revolver… hello.” Yuusaku said, sitting up properly. “You… you’re asking if I’d like to use your telescope?” 

Revolver nodded. “Would you?” 

Yuusaku made his way over slowly, sitting down on the picnic blanket. As he settled, Ryoken offered him a flask. Yuusaku raised an eyebrow at him.

“You tried to murder most of Denki city, I’m not ingesting anything you give me.” 

Ryoken uncapped the flask and took a long sip of the drink himself. Then, he offered it to Yuusaku again.

This time, Yuusaku took it. 

The silence that stretched between them was companionable. They shared facts about the stars, drank tea and watched the Great Conjunction disappear. 

* * *

The next morning, Yuusaku's phone chimed with a new message. There was a date and time, followed by the words:

'We'll be able to catch the meteor shower. I'll bring tea.'

He smiled. 


	69. Finale

This was it. 

Yuusaku had been planning this moment for months. 

Today was the day he and Revolver had met, in the Vrains. It may not have been the most pleasant start to a relationship, but it was a start nonetheless. 

They’d been together for over four years now, and Yuusaku had moved in a while ago. It made sense, since 1, Ryoken’s place was nicer; 2, there was no rent to pay and 3; he didn’t have to go anywhere to spend time with his boyfriend. 

A few months ago, Yuusaku had realised that he already perceived Ryoken as someone he’d spend the rest of his life with. It was an abrupt realisation, like a slap in the face. 

So, of course, he planned a proposal. 

It hadn’t been easy. In fact, being in a relationship at all had been quite the learning curve. This was possibly the hardest part of all. 

He was glad he’d decided to do this in the Vrains. Of course, his reasoning was the sentimentality of it, but now it also meant he didn’t have to deal with sweaty palms or any of the other nasty physical-tells of nerves. Any minute now, Ryoken would log in and arrive in this flower field. The place was done up with pink flowers in the shape of love hearts - he’d enlisted Aoi’s help with it, and it had actually turned out fairly well. He would propose, Ryoken would say yes, and then in the real world, there was a ring waiting for him. 

Yuusaku held his breath. 

The air crackled, and Revolver’s avatar materialised. 

“Ryoken.” Yuusaku said, smiling. “I--” 

“No.” Ryoken said, looking around. “No-no-no…”

Yuusaku’s heart dropped. 

“...what?” 

Ryoken sighed. He came over to take Playmaker’s hands in his own, then said, “I’m set up on the other side of the field.” 

He opened his palm and a small black box materialised.

Yuusaku stared at it for a moment. 

He looked back up to meet Ryoken’s gaze, a smile stretching across his lips slowly. 

“On the count of three? 1, 2, 3-”

“Will you marry me?” They asked in unison, both grinning. 

  
  


* * *

_ Bonus: _

“Aoi, did you help us _both_?" 

"Yes." She laughed. 

"Literally everyone has known that you were both planning this for _months_." Takeru added. "It's been so hard keeping it from you!" 

* * *


End file.
